text:
Moondance and Women in Film, Writing and Music
By Elizabeth English
Now it's your turn! You can settle for someone else's vision of the world, or you can bravely embark upon a journey of your own. Moondance is about inspiration, encouragement, collaboration, stimulating self-confidence, learning new ways of perception and creative expression, and cultivating a whole new concept of success for women in the international film industry. There is purposely no elite-ism at Moondance; everyone associated with the film festival is both a student and a teacher. We seek to support and nurture dreams and to motivate creative artists to follow that dream, no matter the prevailing circumstances. Writers and filmmakers often perceive the world differently, and their reactions to these perceptions, expressed in the art of film, writing and music can invigorate and spark the creative imaginations of others in the world, especially that of our children and the future generations.
Women filmmakers, women writers and women music composers are vocal and active participants in the social forces that shape our culture. They portray women as three-dimensional, complex human beings, and thus defy the demeaning and pervasive stereotypes perpetuated by the mainstream media.
Moondance is dedicated to promoting visibility for women in the international film community and in Hollywood and their impact on the film industry. We see this as a means to disrupt and correct the misogynous, fantastical, passive, destructive and denigrating visual representation of females that has, historically, been rendered by men in all media and has for so long and so plentifully pervaded our visual culture.
Our work on reaching out toward women filmmakers, women writers and women composers everywhere in the world is primary and ongoing. Women writers and filmmakers from all six continents, and from a wide diversity of ethnic and linguistic groups are an integral part of our mission and goals. We seek to inspire and invigorate this creative potential of women to perceive, conceptualize, and produce their works for the benefit of the world society. We are dedicated to preserving their accumulated accomplishments and visions as expressed through the art of film, music and writings.
Moondance promises to raise awareness of the invaluable contributions of women to the entertainment community. Equity for women in the film industry does not mean stifling some voices so that others may be heard; it does not demand the compromising of personal standards to achieve success. Equity creates new standards, which accommodate and nurture differences. Equity fosters the individual voice, investing women with confidence in their own authority. Equity unleashes the creative potential. We see the equal treatment of all women and the equal respect for all responses they explore as essential to their and our ultimate goals.
Our film programs are always well rounded, entertaining, and enlightening, highlighting diverse cultures, opinions, and stories. We welcome individual expression and are committed to presenting diverse points of view. Moondance aims to entertain, increase awareness, provide multiple viewpoints, address complex social issues, provide forums for deliberation, and strengthen ties between a large variety of international audiences.
The long-term vision of the Moondance International Film Festival is to preserve and revitalize our intangible heritage, cultivate creative diversity, develop an intercultural dialogue, and stimulate this creative resource. Our mission is to present a vibrant and growing collection of films, writings, and music, which is an ideal means for communication across perceived boundaries of race, culture, place, age and gender. These works document the complexity and depth of men's and women's experiences that will become widely accessible within the world film industry and to the public, and will encourage and inspire others to write, compose music and to make films.
Moondance also encourages men writers and filmmakers to submit their work to Moondance, but in order to win or be a finalist, and/or to have their films screened at the film festival, we require that their work depict women and girls in a positive manner. The annual Moondance International Film Festival is for the benefit of both women and men, and all are encouraged to submit their work, and to attend and participate.


text:
Spotlight Article:
Build Your Own Code
Nobody likes energy codes. This unfortunate fact maintains my popularity ratings, as a writer and enforcer of energy codes, down in the low single digits. Energy codes fall into the same category as speed limits ...
Keep Reading
Rethinking Radon Standards
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing a model radon control standard for residential construction, with adoption of the standard expected sometime this winter. [continue reading]
Checking Out HUD's Proposed Mobile Home Performance Standards
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has proposed new standards aimed at reducing heat loss in new manufactured homes and was expected to issue a final set of standards in late October. [continue reading]
LOOKING AHEAD Raising Standards and Savings New Group Hunts Bad Ducts
Does 40 billion kWh sound like a lot of energy? How about 4 billion therms? Researchers believe that's how much electrical and gas energy this country could save by fixing inefficient ducts using current techniques. [continue reading]
One Size Fits All: A Thermal Distribution Efficiency Standard
When it comes to residential duct systems, even the experts can't agree on the proper definition for energy efficiency. For example, how could one possibly compare an hydronic system with an air system? [continue reading]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Building Performance Journal Editors
Our Blog Has Moved
Thanks for your interest in contributing a blog to the Building Performance Journal (formerly Home Energy magazine). We're ...
Jim Gunshinan
Is Energy Efficiency an American Value?
Energy efficiency is good for the economy, good for families, good for workers, and good for the environment.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
South Lake Tahoe City Council adopts ban on retail plastic bags
Editor's note: The original version of this story did not note that the law will take effect Jan. 15 for grocers and food vendors. It has been updated to reflect this.
South Lake Tahoe City Council adopted an ordinance to ban the use of plastic bags for customer products at retail stores in a 3-2 decision Tuesday.
Councilwoman JoAnn Conner and Mayor Tom Davis were the dissenting votes; however, Davis said he would support a similar ordinance that conformed to state law, if one were to be passed.
Although the law will take effect Jan. 15 for grocers and food vendors and Oct. 15, 2014, for retailers Oct. 15, council members and city staff said the issue will undergo further discussion, as people with varying opinions came to weigh in on the ordinance at the Tuesday meeting.
The pinnacle point of debate at the meeting was that, without a mandated cost on recycled paper bags, grocery stores would have to absorb the cost from paper bags.
According to the California Grocers Association, plastic bags cost about 1 cent per bag, while paper bags usually cost 6 to 12 cents or more.
A letter submitted to City Council by the CGA stated that banning plastic bags and not requiring a fee to customers to use paper bags would cost grocers on average an additional $60,000 per year.
Using the most plastic and paper bags than other industries, grocers have the highest stake in plastic bags, industry representatives said.
Nonprofit stores that sell donated items are exempt from the ordinance and so are bags used to hold prescription drugs from pharmacies.
Mike and Kim Schouten, owners of Grocery Outlet in South Lake Tahoe submitted a letter to council echoing the statements of the CGA.
In the letter, the owners claim the cost of using only paper bags would be an increase to their business expenses equal to the annual earnings of two to three full-time employees.
Although the ordinance states a fee on paper bags is allowable, grocers made the argument no store would impose that fee due to competitive nature.
"We are in such a competitive business that no retailer is going to charge for that," CGA spokesman Dave Heylen said.
The prohibition on retailers distributing paper bags for free was stricken from the original ordinance after the first reading Oct. 1.
"Without regulating all single-use carryout bags consumers are not encouraged to use a reusable bag and instead simply switch from one type of single-use bag to another single-use bag which provides no environmental benefit and increases operational costs for retailers," the letter to council stated.
The ordinance states the city would like residents and visitors to use reusable bags.
Councilors stated because of the emissions from making plastic bags as well as the non-biodegradable materials they are made from, banning plastic bags from retail stores would benefit the area's landfills, Lake Tahoe and all around trash collection.
Other arguments included possible health hazards from bring-your-own-bag practices.
According to an article published on http://www.foodsafety.gov by Laura Gieraltowski of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, people will have to be mindful when using reusable bags. If they aren't washed properly or left in a high-temperature place, they can breed bacteria from food. Also, reusable bags for groceries should not be used for anything except groceries.
Councilwoman JoAnn Conner said the notion that plastic bags are better than reusable bags is not true because many reusable bags are made with plastic materials and last longer in landfills. She added that she does not think they are sanitary.
"The problem is the people who don't (wash their bags), and you may not necessarily see that bacteria," Conner said. "The majority of people don't wash them regularly."
Davis reiterated his stance from the Oct. 1 council meeting in which the first reading was adopted, as he said he did not see a visible problem with the plastic bags.
Councilor Hal Cole supported the ban on plastic bags but not the fee to the customer.
"I don't think being against a tax on a consumer is anti-business," Cole said. "(To) fine a consumer, that's not business-friendly."
Cole also said there may be charges that are too high for paper bags that cause profit issues for the businesses.
"I don't understand why this can't be factored in with cost increase." Cole said. "I think that's offensive to consumers. I would rather have the retailers amortize the cost of whatever this is going to cost into their product and give them an incentive. I'd rather to incentivize than punish."
The council said they will try to conduct informal surveys to see what effects the ordinance will have on local businesses, and it is not impossible that the ordinance won't come back for more discussion later on.
City Manager Nancy Kerry said it would benefit all parties with a stake in the ordinance to have further discussions.
"We can certainly … hold workshops and seek other input, reach out to the business community and find out how it's working," Kerry said, adding sometimes ordinances can have unforeseen factors arise.
Kerry said the variety of perspectives should draw more input from people to whom the ordinance applies.
Environmental issues were the catalyst of the ordinance to ban plastic bags, which began about two years ago. Similar ordinances had been brought to council before but were not adopted.
Angela Swanson said she wanted to see the ordinance approved but also keep a close eye on what it will do to the local industries, and she said the main issues for her were environmental.
Swanson also said paper bags are just as bad environmentally because they contribute a significant portion of landfill material.
Support Local Journalism
Support Local Journalism
Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.
Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.
Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.


text:
New Mexico adds 2nd bathroom for female lawmakers
$2.5 million upgrade to capitol
Renovations planned for the New Mexico Capitol during the Legislature's offseason include the addition of a bathroom that lawmakers call long overdue.
The Capitol has a men's bathroom right off the House member's lounge next to the House floor, but the nearest members' bathroom for women is on the Senate side of the building.
Democratic Rep. Mimi Stewart says the walk means that female representatives sometimes miss votes, and House Speaker Ken Martinez says the lack of a bathroom for female House members is embarrassing.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that the additional women's bathroom for representatives is being added as part of a $2.5 million upgrade.
Other work includes installing new carpeting and replacing electronic voting systems.
The Capitol was completed in 1966.


text:
[UPDATE] : Fixed some bugs (July 23, 2012)
This item consist of 3 different styles brochure and catalog mockups to showcase your design in a photo-realistic appearance. The files uses smart object feature that mean you can easily and quickly replace the design just in a few seconds (instruction included).
Details :
- Three different styles
- Layered PSD format
- Smart object feature
- Photo realistic
- 2500×2000 pixels size
- 300 DPI optimized
- A4 page dimension
- Instruction included
Image Credits :
Note : Images used in the preview are not included, however, you can still download them through the links above, thanks!


text:
informative article about it today, which served as a wonderful reminder to go out and marvel at the sight.
I'll be outside for a few moments between 11:41PM and 12:53AM PST to see the amber-colored moon.
Will you be looking at it, too? Please, tell me!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Total Lunar Eclipse
Posted by Unknown at 8:20 PM
5 comments:
- AnonymousDecember 20, 2010 at 10:37 PM
The photos from our back porch have already begun... ;)ReplyDelete
Ooh, fun! I'm looking forward to seeing those. =)ReplyDelete
I didn't end up getting to see it. =( It was too cloudy here last night. Can't wait to see everyone else's photographs of it, though!ReplyDelete
it was too cloudy here too! we went outside to look and couldn't even tell where the moon was :(ReplyDelete
Same here, it was a total bummer.ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
This week, celebrities went out in droves. Jay-Z partied at 1Oak with dozens of his famous friends, Richard Gere stood apart from the pack of actors dining at Nick & Toni's, and just about everyone who is anyone turned up for the Academy of Arts and Sciences party at Stone Rose Lounge. All this and more in our weekly roundup of celebrity dining.
1Oak: Jay-Z celebrated a successful run at the Barclays Center with 40 friends Saturday night, including Beyoncé, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kelly Rowland, Usher, Tyson Beckford, Jessica White, and Lindsay Lohan. The group arrived at 2 a.m. and partied until past 4 a.m., fueled by what else but Jay-Z's new cognac, D'usse. [Page Six/NYP]
21 Club: Monica Lewinsky sat under a replica of Air Force One donated by former President Bill Clinton during dinner Monday night. She's currently writing a tell-all about her time at the White House. During dinner, she did not acknowledge the origins of the object above her head. [Page Six/NYP]
Catch: Lindsay Lohan may have been on her best behavior at 1Oak, but on Monday she drew attention when she nearly choked a friend with his own scarf. Lohan mistook the scarf for one she had gifted to ex Samantha Ronson and said as much while tightening it around Gavin Doyle's neck. Before the altercation and subsequent intervention by security, the two were dining with a group of friends at the meatpacking restaurant with plans to head up to the rooftop for model Carole Remer's birthday party. [NYDN]
The Darby: Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz joined Naomi Campbell in the West Village to celebrate her new Oxygen show The Face. Campbell's The Face co-stars Nigel Barker, Coco Rocha, and Karolina Kurkova also joined the festivities. [Page Six/NYP]
Fishtail: Ann Romney discussed politics with former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer at the David Burke restaurant. [Page Six/NYP]
Harry Cipriani: Rob Lowe and W magazine editor Stefano Tonchi lunched separately at the midtown eatery. [Page Six/NYP]
Jacob's Pickles: The Motherf**ker With the Hat castmates Chris Rock and Bobby Cannavale chatted over lunch at the soul food spot. [NYDN]
Le Bain: Gwyneth Paltrow, Molly Sims, and Christy Turlington Burns stopped by celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson's Method Pregnancy Project at the Standard. [NYDN]
Monkey Bar: Fellow Brits Robert Pattinson and Sienna Miller hung out at the midtown bar Friday night. [Page Six/NYP]
Nick & Toni's: Richard Gere angered a restaurant patron by (allegedly) flirting with the man's wife. Onlookers saw the Arbitrage star speak into the ear of a blonde at another table. The woman's husband then not-so-nicely told him to leave. In town for the Hamptons International Film Festival, Meryl Streep, Mike Nichols, Blythe Danner, Alec Baldwin, Liev Schreiber, and Brendan Fraser also dined at the restaurant Saturday night. [Page Six/NYP]
Patsy's: Ann Romney ordered a grilled chicken caesar salad and discussed her favorite recipes with restaurant owners Joe Scognamillo and Frank DiCola on Tuesday. [Page Six/NYP]
Philippe Chow: Tony Romo, Chace Crawford, and Cuba Gooding Jr. got together in the restaurant's private wine cellar. Meanwhile, billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed dined with three friends upstairs. [NYDN]
Sardi's: Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon, and Ed Asner were on hand to see their likenesses added to the wall of the Times Square restaurant this week. The Grace stars' caricatures now hang with around 1,300 others at the New York institution. [NYDN]
Stone Rose Lounge: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Ben Affleck, Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Michael Moore, Steven Soderbergh, and Bette Midler helped kick off Oscar movie season at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences party. [NYDN]


text:
In response to concerns that "[t]he proliferation of new income tax provisions since the 1986 tax reform effort has led to complex compliance hurdles for taxpayers, administrative complexity and enforcement challenges for the Internal Revenue Service," the AICPA submitted recommendations for tax reform to five of the 11 working groups the House Ways and Means Committee has formed.
The AICPA has consistently supported tax reform efforts, as it believes that they will "significantly reduce taxpayers' compliance costs, encourage voluntary compliance through an understanding of the rules, and facilitate enforcement actions," as explained by Jeffrey Porter, chair of the AICPA's Tax Executive Committee, in his each of his letters submitting comments to the various working groups.
The AICPA recommended the following legislative changes to the Small Business/Passthroughs Tax Reform Working Group:
- Provide parity between the self-employed and employees by permitting the self-employed to deduct the cost of health insurance from their net earnings from self-employment that are subject to Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) tax.
- Allow unused partnership losses to be transferred between spouses or ex-spouses under Sec. 1041(a) as is presently permitted for unused S corporation losses.
- Clarify that spouses who jointly run a business can qualify for the simplified reporting requirements under Sec. 761(f) as a qualified joint venture even if they operate their business in an entity that is a partnership or limited liability company under state law.
- Permit an offset for the built-in gains tax a former C corporation pays for charitable contributions and foreign tax credits from tax years when it was a C corporation.
- Add a new 120-day post-termination transition period (PTTP) for former S corporations to permit the special treatment that already applies in this period to be available when the former S corporation files an amended return.
- Allow S corporations to have nonresident aliens as shareholders and potential current beneficiaries of electing small business trusts, provided the Code is also amended to require withholding under Sec. 1446 for effectively connected income allocable to the nonresident shareholders.
- Repeal the provision that terminates an S election if a former C corporation with undistributed C year earnings and profits has more than 25% of its income from passive sources for three consecutive years. Failing that change, the threshold should be raised to more than 60%, instead of more than 25%.
In the education and family benefits area, the AICPA recommended:
- Tax benefits for higher education should be simplified and harmonized by replacing current tax incentives (i.e., Hope credit, American opportunity tax credit, lifetime learning credit, and the tuition and fees deduction) intended to help taxpayers meet current higher education expenses with one new or revised credit, and to make other changes. The current complexity results in a number of qualifying taxpayers' not claiming the benefit while a number of unqualified taxpayers receive benefits they are not entitled to.
- Simplify the "kiddie tax" by removing the link with parents' and siblings' returns and by applying estate and trust tax rates.
- Allow consistent amounts for mileage expenses, which are currently different for mileage for charitable purposes (14 cents per mile set by statute), mileage for employment-related expenses (which the IRS is allowed to adjust when circumstances warrant and is currently 56.5 cents per mile), and another rate for medical and moving expenses (currently 24 cents per mile). Under the proposal, there would be one rate for business expenses and another for all nonbusiness expenses, which would be a percentage of the business rate. The rates would be adjusted annually and could be adjusted midyear.
- Attorneys' fees and court costs incurred in litigation that produces taxable awards should be deductible above the line and not be subject to the 2% floor on itemized deductions.
- Borrowers should not be issued a Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt, unless their legal obligation to repay a loan has been terminated.
The Income and Tax Distribution Tax Reform Working Group was advised to adopt a uniform system to determine whether an annual adjustment for inflation is necessary to the various dollar amounts provided in the Code. While many amounts in the Code are adjusted for inflation, some provisions, such as the $1 million limit under Sec. 1244 for losses on small business stock enacted in 1958, have never been adjusted.
According to the AICPA, the Charitable/Exempt Organizations Tax Reform Working Group should work on the following changes:
- Standardize the mileage rate for charitable deductions (see above).
- Exempt from the Sec. 6034(a) filing requirement trusts with charitable deductions only from flowthrough entities.
- Standardize the filing extension for all Form 990 series and other forms so an automatic six-month extension will be available for all information, excise, and income tax returns.
- Reinstate and make permanent the Sec. 512(b)(13) fair market value exception that excepts payments between related entities from unrelated business income tax and remove the binding contract requirement.
- Expand the Sec. 509(f)(2) exception, which prohibits an organization from qualifying for Sec. 509(a)(3) status if it accepted certain gifts, to be consistent with the change made to Sec. 4958(c)(3)(C) (exempting supported noncharitable organizations from the excess benefit transaction rule).
Finally, the AICPA made these recommendations to the Pensions/Retirement Tax Reform Working Group:
- Repeal the requirement that benefits become fully vested upon a partial termination of a qualified retirement plan.
- Consolidate and simplify the multiple types of tax-favored retirement plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), 457, and SIMPLE plans) and the rules governing them.
- Amend the law to permit administrative relief for certain late qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) and qualified revocable trust (QRT) elections.
- Provide consistent treatment of all federal tax payments of trusts and estates.
- Amend Sec. 67(e) to simplify the law and allow estates and nongrantor trusts to fully deduct the cost of complying with fiduciary duties in administering estates and trusts (i.e., not be subject to the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income limitation).
— Sally P. Schreiber ( firstname.lastname@example.com ) is a JofA senior editor.


text:
Very smooth, and cool background music suitable for a commercial and podcast background. It contains drum loop, mute bass, very ambient electric guitar and organ.
Track number 3 is made for a VIDEO made by ZHENJUEYIMEN. This version has sound effects .These sound effects will soon be available for stand alone purchase.
1. Main (1:33)
2. Loop (1:24)
3.Zhenjueyimen Version (1:15)


text:
Award Categories
M365 Apps & Services
First year awarded:
Number of MVP Awards:
Diane Poremsky
( Diane Poremsky )
United States
Sheffield Lake, OH
Involved in Office and Windows technology and development for more than 20 years and an MVP since 1999, Diane owns CDOLive LLC dba Slipstick Systems, a consulting firm based in the greater Cleveland Ohio area, which specializes in helping small businesses make the most of Office and Windows applications. In addition to her consulting business, she provides assistance to users and developers through the websites she operates: slipstick.com, outlook-tips.net, and outlookforums.com. She is the author of numerous books and magazine articles, her latest book is Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginner's Guide. Diane publishes Exchange Messaging Outlook for Slipstick.com, a weekly newsletter covering Outlook and Exchange issues. In addition to her participation in the Microsoft Answers and TechNet forums, she helps users on several mailing lists, including the Outlook-users mailing list at yahoogroups.com. Diane and her husband live near the Lake Erie shore.


text:
Great female participation on PyCon US 2013
I have read that around 20% of PyCon attendees were women. I'm sure I've seen it on more places I can't find at the moment, but is at least here.
This is fantastic news, a great success for the PyCon, the Python community, and specially groups like PyLadies and Lady Coders. The opening statements of Jesse Nollan is a must see.
As I have previously expressed some concerns in this blog about whether requiring a Code of Conduct is the best approach, I'd like to say that I was wrong and it seems that had a positive impact. The CoC is also currently under review, and I'm sure it will be improved. It has also been used with great care, as the PyCon blog shows, which is also something to kudos.
There has also been special programming tracks for kids, which is awesome.
Of course, that is not the end of the road, and there is still much to do, but it is very encouraging. Keep on the good track!
One Comment on "Great female participation on PyCon US 2013"
Pingback: The PyCon row | cartesian product


text:
KSA has published the text of the VAT and Excise Treaties has been saved
KSA has published the text of the VAT and Excise Treaties
Another step closer to VAT implementation
On 23 April the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) published the text of the Value Add Tax (VAT) and Excise Treaties agreed between the GCC countries. The treaties are available on the following links: VAT Treaty and Excise Tax Treaty.
In addition, the KSA's General Authority of Zakat and Tax published its user manual for those required to register for Excise tax. It is available here: KSA Registration User Manual.


text:
Glass Half Full Poster
Welcome to our beautiful collection of downloadable posters, assured to bring light and joy to your home or office! Our posters are instantly accessible as a digital download file for you to print at home or take to your local print shop.
Your poster will be emailed to you as an A2 size.
Downloadable poster straight to your inbox!
Product Code - P1530
Write Your Own Review


text:
Around the WebApril 27, 2012 at 10:02 am | Posted in Around the Web, Regular Feature | Leave a comment
Tags: entertainment weekly, EUC, Eye of the Dragon, Fangirl Cantina, stephen king, syfy
Stephen King Alert: Syfy is developing, as a long form project, King's 1987 bestseller, The Eyes of the Dragon. On board for the script are I, Robot's Jeff Vintar and Battlestar Galactica's Michael Taylor; executive producers are Taylor and Bill Haber. The Eyes of the Dragon has something in common with King's other works. Although it is set in a fictional world where a young prince (falsely accused of and imprisoned for his father's murder) must face a devious wizard, Eyes continues King's practice of a character who's appeared in his other works. In this case, Flagg, who was in both the Dark Tower series and The Stand.
(via EW)
A Novel Approach to Novels: How many times have you seen the question, "Hai, I'm new to the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and want to start reading the books. Where do I start?". If you're like us, you've heard it a lot. Since there are about a bazillion Star Wars books (well, maybe not that many, but it seems like it), that's a tall order and totally subjective to boot. One reader's soaring-to-new-heights novel is going to be another's total dreck so how to advise? Well, Tricia at Fangirl Cantina has come up with what we think is really a good idea. You can check out her where to start* article here, and why didn't someone think of it sooner?
*Most frequent answer: Zim Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. We have heard of readers who actually didn't like The Thrawn Trilogy, but we don't know them personally. We don't associate with people like that.
Support a Worthy Cause: Speaking of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, EU Cantina has come up with a way to flaunt your total nerditude and be charitable. Buy a #SWEU T shirt from them and their profit from the shirt will be donated to RIF (Reading is Fundamental) to support literacy. You can get the details here.
Friday Fun: Here's a LOL to start the weekend with. Personally, I'd hire this guy on the spot.
(via Syfy)
Posted by Synlah for Roqoo Depot
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.


text:
Architectures for a Compositing Manager
There are various ways that we can implement an X compositing manager; this document tries to sketch out the tradeoffs involved.
1. Compositing manager on top of RENDER
Using RENDER to implement a compositing manager has the advantage that RENDER works directly with the objects that the compositing manager is manipulating; pixmaps and windows.
But it has disadvantages; first, the RENDER API does not expose the full power of modern graphics cards. If you want to say, use pixel shaders, in your compositing manager, you are out of luck.
Second, to get decent performance, we need hardware acceleration. The basic problem with hardware acceleration of RENDER is that it doesn't always match the hardware that well; in particular, for filtered scaling, hardware is mipmap based, a concept not exposed in RENDER.
Hardware accelerating RENDER to get good performance for the drawing we do within windows is not challenging, but getting good performance for full-window and full-desktop operations may be harder.
1.a. RENDER acceleration written directly to hardware
The first approach to accelerating RENDER is what we do currently; directly program the hardware. At some level, this allows optimum performance, but involves duplicating work that's being done in the 3D drivers; which have a much more active development community. RENDER is also an unknown quantity to hardware vendors so we're unlikely to get good support in closed-source or vendor-written drivers. Using a known API like OpenGL to define the hardware interaction would give us much more of a common language with hardware vendors.
1.b. RENDER acceleration written on top of GL in the server.
The other approach is to implement RENDER on top of GL. Since GL is a pretty close match to the hardware, we shouldn't lose a lot of efficiency doing this, and features such as pixel shaders should eventually allow for very high-powered implementations of RENDER compositing. A start of this work has been done by Dave Reveman for the 'glitz' library.
1.b.i. GL in the server done with a GL-based server
If we are accelerating RENDER in the server with GL, we clearly need GL in the server. We could do this by running the entire server as a GL client, on top of something like mesa-solo, or nested on top of the existing server like Xgl. Both have their disadvantages; mesa-solo is far from usable for hosting an X server, and nested X server still requires that the "backend" X server be maintained.
1.b.ii. GL in the server done incrementally
An alternative approach would to be to start by implementing indirect rendering; once we had that, we'd have DRI drivers running inside the server process. It would be conceivable to use those DRI drivers to implement parts of the 2D rendering stack while keeping all the video card initialization, Xvideo implementation, and so forth the same. This work has been started in the accel_indirect_glx branch of Xorg and is making good progress.
2. Compositing manager on top of OpenGL
2.a. Compositing manager renders to separate server
The way that luminocity works is that it runs a headless "Xfake" server (all software), sucks the window contents off of that server then displays them on an output server. Input events are forward the other way from the output server to the headless server.
This model has a great deal of simplicity, because the CM can simply be a normal direct rendering client. And it doesn't perform that badly; rendering within windows simply isn't the limiting factor for normal desktop apps. Performance could be further optimized by running the CM in the same process as the headless server (imagine a libxserver).
The forwarding of input events is pretty difficult, and having to extend that for XKB, for Xinput, for Xrandr, and so forth would be painful, though doable. The real killer of this model is Xvideo and 3D applications. There's no way that we can get reasonable performance for such applications without having them talking to the output server.
2.b. Compositing manager renders to same server
The more reasonable final model for a GL-based compositing manager is that we use a single X server. Application rendering, whether classic X, GL, or Xvideo is redirected to offscreen pixmaps. Then a GL based compositing manager transfers the contents of those pixmaps to textures and renders to the screen.
2.b.i. Compositing manager uses indirect rendering
We normally think that direct rendering is always better than indirect
rendering. However, this may not be the case for the compositing
manager. The source data that we are using is largely on the X server;
for a direct rendering client to copy a pixmap onto a texture
basically requires an XGet
Image, meaning copying the data from the server to the client. So, the right approach may to be use
an indirect rendering client, which could simply manipulate textures as opaque objects without ever needing to touch the texture data directly.
To do the work of rendering window pixmaps to the screen, we could simply generate temporary textures and use glCopySubImage to copy from the composite-redirected pixmap into the texture.
A different approach would be to have a GL extension similar to pbuffers where a pixmap is "bound" to a texture. Would it be a problem if the application could write to the window (and thus pixmap) while the compositing manager was working? The pbuffer spec prohibits changing pbuffer contents while a pbuffer is bound to a texture. It also likely involves copying in any case, since textures have different formats and restrictions than pixmaps. Avoiding new GL extensions is definitely a plus in any case. So, perhaps the simple approach with the copy is the right one.
Automatic mipmap generation would have to be implemented for the DRI to make filtered scaling down efficient, since sucking the image back to the client to generate mipmaps would be horribly inefficient.
We might want a way to specify that the textures we are creating to shadow windows are temporary and can be discarded. pbuffers or the (draft) superbuffer specification may allow expressing the right semantics.
Update: the GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap spec addresses a few of these issues. It is only defined for pixmaps, not windows, but since the Composite extension exposes the redirected image as a pixmap, this works. It specifies a new call, glXBindTexImageEXT, that is required to act like glTexImage2D, ie, it must act like a copy when it is executed. It also addresses the mipmapping issue by allowing the server to indicate whether it can generate mipmaps for bound pixmaps automatically. Finally, the expected usage model is that textures are bound to pixmaps for a single invocation and then unbound; the implementation may track updates between binds as an optimization, potentially eliminating copies.
While this does introduce some additional complexity due to the new extension, it does provide all the information necessary to enable a direct-rendering compositing manager (see below), again with a natural transition from older to newer stacks.
2.b.ii. Compositing manager uses direct rendering
A sophisticated implementation of direct rendering could perhaps make
copying from a pixmap onto a texture more efficient than
Image. Right now the DRI relies heavily on having a
application-memory copy of all textures, but it is conceivable that it
could be extended to allow textures that are "locked" into video
memory. With such a texture, you could imagine the server taking care
of copying from pixmap to texture, even if rendering with the texture
was being done by the client.
Still, there seems to be an inevitable high synchronization overhead for such a system; the client and server are doing a complex dance to get the rendering done.


text:
Normal fit. Choose your regular size.
- FREE 3-year extended warranty - With easy email sign up
- Price match promise - With easy email sign up
- Easy returns with Royal Mail collection or drop off
- 100 day returns - With easy email sign up
Product details
- Materials:
- 100% Polyester
- MADEKIND: Berghaus' commitment to high-performance gear that's kinder to the planet
- UPF 30+ Sun protection
- Bluesign approved
- Argentium Technology: Moisture wicking and odour resistance
- Anti-odour zinc technology
- Super stretch fabric
- Quick drying
- Lightweight
- Breathable
- Fit: Slim
- Weight: 120g
Product information
Product features
- Sleeves: Long Sleeves
- Gender: Womens
- Brand: Berghaus
- Technical features: Quickdry
- Fabric: Polyester
- Ideal For: Athleisure
- Size recommendation: Normal fit. Choose your regular size.
- Weight (g): 120
About the brand
Berghaus has an amazing ability to tap into that feeling of joy and discovery in the outdoors. That feeling we all love. They've used this as the essence to create high performance gear that they're constantly developing and evolving. From the first shop in the North East of England, Berghaus has come a long way.
Using over 50 years of experience to bring you a carefully crafted kit that's tested by athletes and built to last. Smart gear with a host of clever ways to make every step in the outdoors more enjoyable and more fun. Berghaus know what lies between simply enjoying the great outdoors and truly loving it. The evidence is in every great bit of kit they produce.
Need support? Chat live with our team of dedicated experts.
Let us know you agree to cookies
We use marketing, analytical and functional cookies as well as similar technologies to give you the best experience. Third parties, including social media platforms, often place tracking cookies on our site to show you personalised adverts outside of our website.
We store your cookie preferences for two years and you can edit your preferences via 'manage cookies' or through the cookie policy at the bottom of every page. For more information, please see our cookie policy.


text:
Gazin' With the Experts
One of the greatest thrills for a beginning backyard astronomer is to view the heavens through a telescope. Because there are a number of astronomy clubs and professional observatories in San Diego and Southern California, many opportunities exist for the public to explore the cosmos in this way.
San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA)
The SDAA is a non-profit educational organization established to further the education of its members and the general public about astronomy. Membership ranges across all walks of life and all levels of interest and knowledge.
The SDAA hosts a number of free public sky viewing events throughout the year, both in Balboa Park on the Prado and at their dark sky observatory complex in Tierra del Sol.
At dusk on the first Wednesday of each month, following the monthly "Sky Tonight" planetarium show in the Fleet Science Center's Space Theater, members of the SDAA set up telescopes on the north side of the Fleet Center building, by the large fountain in Balboa Park, for free public sky viewing. Though the sky is not as dark and clear as one might hope, viewers can enjoy a variety of sights, from the moon and planets to the brighter stars.
In addition, the SDAA hosts public star parties at their dark observing site in Tierra del Sol, about 90 minutes east of San Diego. Here, visitors can view the sky through small and large telescopes - including the 0.6-meter (22-inch) diameter Lipp Telescope -- and get a glimpse of some remarkable "deep - sky objects" such as nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies. Dates for these and other club events are listed on the SDAA Events Calendar.
Mt. Laguna Observatory Associates (MLOA)
MLOA is a non-profit ancillary organization of San Diego State University (SDSU), whose members support the research and educational programs of Mount Laguna Observatory Membership. Membership is open to the general public, provides complementary subscription to the MLOA Newsletter, an invitation to the annual John D.Schopp Lecture on the SDSU campus, an invitation to the Annual Summer Meeting and Picnic at the Observatory, an insider's tour of the Observatory, and special telescopic viewing sessions at the Observatory and on the SDSU campus.
Riverside Telescope Makers Conference (RTMC)
Each spring the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference is held at the YMCA Camp Oakes, 13 kilometers (8 miles) east of Big Bear City on Highway 38. Visitors have the unique opportunity to see and look through a large variety of telescopes (with relatively dark skies and high elevation), attend talks by professional and amateur astronomers, see some astronomical equipment and software in use, and buy astronomical equipment, software, T - shirts, etc.- often at reduced prices. Advance registration is required to (909) 948-2205, or send e-mail to Robert Stephens at email@example.com.
Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS)
SAS is a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to helping everyday people find the limits of their own genius, by developing scientific skills and removing roadblocks that make it nearly impossible for those without advanced degrees to do research. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do science simply for the love of it.
Orange County Astronomers Starry Nights Festival (SNF)
Presented by the City of Yucca Valley and the Astronomical League Western Region (WRAL), the Starry Nights Festival takes place in October, with speakers, workshops, demonstration booths and evening observing sessions under the dark, pristine skies of Yucca Valley and the Joshua Tree National Monument. Advance registration is required. Bob Gent, SNF Registrar, 325 Cloudes Mill Drive, Alexandria, VA 22304-3080 or by e-mail: email@example.com


text:
I love vintage images, especially Halloween and Valentine's Day. Lucky for me, I have an aunt who is very similar, unlike my mother who de-clutters whatever she can find. My aunt gave me an old scrapbook full of cards, postcards and other ephemera from when she was a young girl. Many people, my mother included, would have felt it was junk and just thrown it away. To me, it's a treasure trove of images from the 1930's and I'm grateful to have it.
I think almost every Halloween as a kid, I was a witch. I had a black hat, a black cape and a rubber bat on a stick that I carried with me to trick or treat. Witches fascinated me then and continue to do so now. I love collecting vintage witch images.
I certainly am not into devil worship but I suppose witches represent magical possibilities to me. With a spell or a look or a twitch of the nose (Bewitched) they can make things happen. Whatever they want can be obtained. Not that I think that's necessarily a good thing, but it could come in handy sometimes.
I love Halloween today, maybe not as much as when I was a kid, but I still love the season, the excitement of trick or treating and remembering the hope that magic was open to me on that night. Happy Halloween to all!
Monday, October 31, 2005
Happy Halloween!
I love vintage images, especially Halloween and Valentine's Day. Lucky for me, I have an aunt who is very similar, unlike my mother who de-clutters whatever she can find. My aunt gave me an old scrapbook full of cards, postcards and other ephemera from when she was a young girl. Many people, my mother included, would have felt it was junk and just thrown it away. To me, it's a treasure trove of images from the 1930's and I'm grateful to have it.
Posted by Deborah at 5:10 PM 1 comments
Friday, October 28, 2005
Deftly Wrought
Posted by Deborah at 7:31 AM 4 comments
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Football and Doughnuts
Years ago my son's 6th grade teacher was so excited that Krispy Kreme doughnuts built a store in town. She told me "when I'm in that store I'm with people who are just like me. I feel so comfortable there." I assume she would have felt completely out of place in a health food store.
My friend Connie came to visit recently from Nashville. We used to work together years ago and were pregnant with our boys at the same time and have stayed in touch ever since. She's a rabid Tennessee Titans fan and got us tickets to see the Phoenix Cardinals and the Titans play. For me, football is remembrances of hearing the crowds on TV screaming when my brothers and dad would watch the games on the weekend. To say that I am not a fan is to put it mildly. I don't even understand the game. A football game to me is a health food store to my son's 6th grade teacher.
Connie's enthusiasm was contagious though. Despite the amount of testosterone in the stadium, she was in her element. This was her Krispy Kreme store. She brought us both Titans jerseys to wear to the game, she had temporary tattoos that she wore and even Titan earrings. She was thrilled that my sneakers matched the Titan colors, though I certainly didn't plan it that way. Here she is 45 minutes before game time:
She had a poster made because the game was on CBS. It said:
By air to
See McNair
McNair being the Titan's quarterback. Sadly, he had an injury and didn't show up at the game. But that didn't ruin her enthusiasm though the 90 degree heat was fixing to ruin mine. Especially when I learned football games last 3 hours. How they last 3 hours when each quarter is only 15 minutes long is still a mystery to me. I learned the man in the green cap signaled a commercial when he stood on the field but the commercials certainly weren't 2 hours of the game. As I said, I know nothing.
I do like to people watch and that was fun, in fact I probably missed most of the important bits of the game in being distracted by the people around us. The young couple who were pregnant, thank goodness the two huge beers he bought were for him and the friend next to him. The man in front of us who had a freckled neck like my brother and couldn't stop screaming "Cardinals!!!!!!" every 15 seconds. His enthusiasm started after his second beer. I wondered if he'd be able to talk the next day. And the cutest sight of the day, the dad with his son who must have been four. He had a sparkly cardinal painted on his left cheek and a Cardinal jersey to match his dad's. They left halfway through the game, maybe to seek a seat in the shade rather than the full sun or maybe 3 hours was too long for a 4 year old, I know it was a tad too long for me, but then I'm over ten times his age and don't understand football.
I do wish they had marching bands during the halftime in pro games, that must only be for college games. The cheerleaders were cute, the fireworks with each Cardinal touchdown were exciting and I was amazed that the crowd noise sounded just like the noise from TV football. Maybe I assumed that sound was really like a TV laugh track? It just struck me that it was for real.
Unfortunately for Connie, the Titans lost 20-10. But we had a great day anyway. She told me of an elderly lady she sees at the Titans home games. She sits in the same place and is at each game. She also found her working as a volunteer in the gift shop at the hospital where she works as a nurse. Behold your future Connie...and thanks for a great day.
Posted by Deborah at 7:05 AM 2 comments
Monday, October 03, 2005
My friend Laurel is the one who inspired me to take a more active interest in gardening. She loves it so much she even planted her subdivision's common area with trees and cactus. Her free time is spent on her knees digging and planting. My free time is spent more with stitching but I still love the results I get when I focus on gardening.
I wish I had more time to devote to it as the results are worthwhile. especially in a climate where it's difficult to keep things growing and anything green is cherished. I love pots of flowers, lots of seeds and plenty of water. I love birdhouses and garden ornaments. I like the surprise of throwing out seeds and discovering what pops up. It's like a treasure hunt to find an unexpected beautiful flower. This is the time of year when we are weeding and cleaning out the flower beds. I'm getting ready to plant seeds now in October as the autumn and winter rains are great for the wildflowers I like. I especially love poppies and found some different poppy seeds when we were in Switzerland, ones I've never seen before and I'm hoping they'll work here in the desert too. As I said, a treasure hunt and I look forward to hopefully finding my Swiss poppies blooming in my garden someday soon.
Before we built our pool, we built a small pond with water lilies, water hyacinth, horsetail, cattail and fish. I loved it especially since it attracted colorful dragonflies but it had to come out when the pool went in. I think it inspired my friend Nancy to build her own pond and I was happy to give her all our waterlilies and now I can still see them when I visit her.
Gardening is such a sharing experience, I have some Nile River plants that Nancy had in her garden and they are so easy to pluck a stalk or two off and plant in the dirt and soon there is another plant. Hers eventually died off and she now has them back after plucking stalks from my plants and taking them back home to plant again in her garden. Geraniums are wonderful for the same reason, pull a leaf and part of the branch off and stick it in the dirt and you soon have another whole plant. I also love sharing seeds. When my flowers go to seed I pull all the seeds off and put them in a big jar and they are ready to give away or ready for me to plant again the next season. I'm sure many of my zinnias are the great-great-great-great etc grandchildren of my original zinnias.
Gardening is always a work in progress. I've never gotten expert enough that I'm happy with the results in all areas of the garden. Some years one spot is barren and another is boldly blooming. Other years it's the opposite. Every year the garden landscape changes especially since I throw out so many seeds, I'm never sure what is going to sprout. This year I thought I'd have a zillion zinnias like I do every year but they seemed to poop out on me and I only got a handful. But I keep on trying, keep on spreading seeds and digging holes and planting pots. I love color and I'll continue to garden and be pleasantly surprised with anything that blooms.
Posted by Deborah at 7:01 AM 0 comments


text:
The latest version of Pure's Evoke DAB/FM radio, the 2S, includes a number of key improvements that take the audio performance to a new level.
The most significant include the addition of high-quality tweeter units – taking the Evoke's speaker system two-way – plus Pure's digital end-to-end audio subsystem, Clearsound.
There's also a new digital power amplifier that Pure claims delivers 30 watts, plus an impressive new OLED display that shames the LCDs of old and is a pleasure to use in both light and dark listening conditions.
The Evoke-2S receives both DAB and FM, using the same tuner module and aerial, the latter being the usual telescopic, swivel mount type that can be quickly adjusted to suit either band (typically vertical and about 40-45cm long for DAB, horizontal and 75cm or so for FM). 3.5mm jack sockets at the rear cater for a single line input, line output and headphones, while power is sourced from the mains or a Pure 'ChargePAK' rechargeable battery.
Rewind radio
Apart from various alarm clock and timer functions, the most interesting addition from an audio point of view is 'ReVu', which allows you to pause, rewind and fast forward by several minutes. With the additional features of intellitext and textSCAN, you can pause and browse the accompanying scrolling information broadcast by the station.
There's no doubt in our mind that adding the tweeters has improved the sound quality significantly. Single drive units are all very well (after all, some highly regarded speakers use that approach) but their dispersion is often relatively poor, making the sound particularly variable as one moves around the room.
In this case, there is quite good treble in most directions and speech intelligibility is definitely better than we found with earlier Evoke models. There's also some good life and verve in music.
We found this radio particularly successful with BBC Radio 3 on digital, the uncompressed sound coming across cleanly and pleasantly, while the high-frequency 'warbling' that tends to characterise DAB sound through true hi-fi equipment is much less noticeable when played through a table radio. Radio 4 also did well, as did some lighter-textured varieties of popular music broadcast on Radio 2.
Improved tweeters
The Evoke 2S's improved sound quality is down to more than just the new tweeters, however. Pure's Clearsound suffix describes its digital end-to-end audio subsystem, which uses high-quality class D amplifiers and digital audio shaping technology to provide clear dynamics with low power consumption to suit the times.
Compared directly to the original Evoke 2, the new model is noticeably better in terms of clarity and coherence and especially speech intelligibility. Crucially, though, it remains unflappable even when pushed to maximum volume. Throw high-quality music files at it (from iPods etc) and the output remains composed right up to the output's limit, which we found impressive.
We'd say this is an excellent radio for speech, very good for music, and certainly an improvement on Pure's previous models. When you consider its impressive features, stunning display and ease of use, the Evoke-2S really does sit at the top of the pile when it comes to DAB/FM portables.


text:
I love everything stir fry! Here is a great shrimp recipe with a little heat. If you don't like spicy food, omit the chili pepper, if you like heat, you can add as much as you like.
Chili Shrimp and Asparagus Stir Fry
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, use tamari for gluten free
- 1 tsp sherry
- 1 tbsp grated peeled fresh ginger
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 2-inch pieces
- 1 chili pepper, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, sliced
- 1 lb large shrimp, cleaned
- salt and pepper to taste
- Stir together soy sauce, sherry and ginger; set aside.
- In a wok, heat 1 tsp sesame oil over medium-high heat until hot.
- Add shrimp and cook until shrimp turns white, about 3 minutes.
- Remove from wok and set aside.
- Add remaining oil to wok.
- When oil is hot, add asparagus and cook 5 minutes or until tender-crisp, stirring frequently.
- Add garlic.
- Add peppers and stir another minute.
- Add shrimp back into the wok.
- Pour sauce over everything and mix another minute.
- Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve over rice if desired.


text:
Ready to Ship. Please allow 3-4 Business Days for Processing.
Pick 'em All is professionally screen printed with Black Ink on a 3/4 Sleeve Raglan with a white body and black sleeves.
All shirts are very soft, lightweight. Tees run True to Size with a slimmer cut. May shrink when washed. Adult Tees run True to Size for Men's sizing. Would recommend sizing down for Women sizing. May shrink when washed.
Graphic size and placement can vary depending on the garment size. Ink/Tee variation/color may vary slightly. Kids tees and Adult tees are not an exact color match.
All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges.


text:
March 20, 2008
Oklahoma peanut farmers are spreading risks a bit by growing three peanut market types — runners, Virginias and Spanish, and are also taking advantage of higher grain prices in rotation options.
Steve Clay, Carnegie; Darcy Reimer, Ringwood; and Joe D. White, Frederick, discussed 2008 peanut production plans during a grower panel presentation at the recent Oklahoma Peanut Expo in Lone Wolf.
"Peanuts are the most profitable crop we grow," Clay said. "We're growing peanuts two years and then lay out at least four years. We rotate with corn and it's good finally to have a rotation crop that makes a profit. For years we grew corn just to get rotation advantages for peanuts. We also use corn to spread out labor and equipment demand."
Clay uses a strip till production system. "We don't doublecrop."
He said corn will take a few more acres in 2008. "We'll plant a little less cotton and keep peanuts about the same."
Reimer is a relative newcomer to peanuts and farms in the northernmost peanut production area in the state.
"I've been growing peanuts for three years," he said. "I've grown irrigated corn and soybeans and some cotton." He grows the same three market types as Clay. "I have just a few runners and plant mostly Virginias."
He uses a strip till or "ro-till" system. "I'll increase peanut acreage this year," he said.
White has grown peanuts for 20 years and still uses a moldboard plow to break the land.
"I changed to peanuts from cotton because of the boll weevil," White said. "Peanuts saved our operation."
He's planting corn, cotton and peanuts now. He grows runner and Virginia peanuts, "mostly Virginias," he said.
Last year was one of White's "better years."
Clay said yield was off a little in 2007 with yields "a little more than two tons per acre. We had too much rain."
Reimer said production averages last year hit 4,000 pounds per acre for Spanish and 5,000 for Virginias."
All three say they need more than $500 a ton for their crop. They irrigate all of their peanuts with center pivot systems.
And one of their toughest pest management problems is feral hog control. "It will be a big problem," Reimer said.
You May Also Like
Argentine grain inspectors strike lifts corn, soybeansJan 19, 2023
Behold! The spring grain rally is aheadMar 30, 2023
CNH Industrial makes precision tech purchaseMar 30, 2023
Farm Progress America, March 30, 2023Mar 29, 2023


text:
The original Die Hard was a beautiful machine of mayhem, full of colorful characters and great, funny dialogue that had little to do with the action ("Hello, this is Agent Johnson…No, the other one"). Since it made big money, it has spawned several unmemorable sequels, including the new one, Live Free or Die Hard. The first film had crazy action sequences and a winning hero in blue-collar NYC cop John McClane (Bruce Willis), but it also let itself breathe and flesh out all the other pieces on the board — it probably has the best overall supporting cast of any action flick in the last twenty years, starting with the incomparable Alan Rickman, whose Hans Gruber has spoiled us for all other movie masterminds in or out of the Die Hard franchise.
The new film brings back McClane and the insane action, but is as clueless about the original's appeal — what makes it compulsively rewatchable — as the previous two follow-ups. It turns McClane into a wisecracking action figure, running here and there with computer whiz Justin Long to protect him from nefarious hacker Timothy Olyphant. It throws in some comic relief — recruiting Willis' fellow Jersey native Kevin Smith as a cellar-dwelling hacker who calls himself The Warlock — but by and large it lacks personality.
For starters, Timothy Olyphant just isn't a terribly compelling villain, or a particularly threatening one. Sure, his posse of minions manage to blow stuff up and perforate every standing piece of architecture with gunfire. And sure, he manages to kidnap McClane's estranged, college-age daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). But there's no menace to any of it, because if Olyphant's hacker can do pretty much anything with computers, McClane can do pretty much anything with brute force. It's nice of 20th-Century Fox to give us a Batman vs. Joker movie a year early, but it's still not a Die Hard movie.
Director Len Wiseman (fifteen when the first Die Hard came out) foregoes the Hot Topic style of his previous Underworld series and delivers a fast-paced romp. The proceedings are brutal, though not bloody enough to get an R rating; there's been much grousing on the Internet about Fox forcing a PG-13 on this installment, whereas the others were allowed all the gore — not to mention all the F-bombs — they needed. Truthfully, it doesn't make all that much difference, since this wouldn't feel like a John McClane adventure even with the splatter and the hero's signature line, "Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker." Willis rocks a chrome dome here, ostensibly because McClane is older and balder now — a fine time to capitulate to realism in a movie that sees McClane outracing a disintegrating overpass in a truck — and he retains McClane's puckish habit of taunting his foes with reminders of how he killed their buddies. Willis is lighter of spirit here than he has been in a while, but the appeal of his character — the working-class guy who outwits evil geniuses with a little bit of Jersey street smarts — gets nuked here because most of his triumphs are based on dumb luck (killing a helicopter with a car) or flatly superhuman feats of agility.
Which, to be fair, seem to be shared by the villains. Maggie Q (who has yet to be used well in a Hollywood film) appears as one of Olyphant's thugs, and she mops the floor with Willis, who then drives a car into her at full speed, plowing her through several walls. Despite this, she's unharmed enough to continue beating the snot out of Willis moments later when the car is dangling in an elevator shaft. A lot of people keep wanting a sequel to Willis' 1991 goof Hudson Hawk, but Live Free or Die Hard comes close to being Hudson Hawk 2 without the singing and the hipster indolence. John McClane has been hauled out of mothballs to show all the young pups how action movies are done, a good idea in theory but not, apparently, in execution.


text:
YOU ARE WATCHING: Koro-sensei Quest! (dub)
Have a nice day! All The Best
Koro-sensei Quest! (dub)
Get ready for a strange but fun-filled adventure with your favorite group of assassins. The killer class is back but this time they've got…magic?! In this brand new spin-off series, follow the chibis of Class 3-E as they learn swordsmanship and sorcery at Kunugigaoka Magic School. Their mission? Defeat the evil Demon King Koro Sensei and face the trials and perils of their magical school!
Genres: Comedy Anime, Dub Anime, Magic Anime, ONA Anime, Shounen Anime
Country: Japanese
Movie: Koro-sensei Quest! (dub)
Production Co:
Release: 2016


text:
Jun 1º New subdomains to select!
We are now offering new subdomains to select, they are location based.
- .myusa.cloud for USA region
- .myeu.cloud for EU region
- .myasia.cloud for Asia region
You can setup subdomain during order or if you use old subdomains, notify us and we will update it.
May 20º Cloudamo is now official OnlyOffice partner.
From today, Cloudamo is official OnlyOffice partner, this will allow us providing much better service, more optimized, better OnlyOffice integration and much more. Also from now on your can purchase licensed OnlyOffice integration for your Nextcloud setup.
We are only Nextcloud provider that is now partner with both Nextcloud and OnlyOffice.


text:
Monday-Friday, 8am-6pm Eastern Time
By clicking "continue" below, you will be redirected away from the Alumni Insurance Program website to one of our partner sites.
1 2016 Insurance Barometer Study by Life Happens and LIMRA
L0720006447[exp0721][All States][DC,GU,MP,PR,VI]
WHO Alumni and/or spouse under age 60 may apply. Coverage can continue up to the age of 80.
$5,000 - $500,000
in $5,000 increments
How Much Do I Need?
RATES Premiums start low and increase at 5‑year intervals
Accelerated Benefits Option
Receive a percentage of your life insurance in the event that you become terminally ill and are diagnosed with no more than a specified amount of time to live.
Will Preparation Services
Get help preparing or updating a will, living will or power of attorney.
Funeral Planning Assistance
Your loved ones and beneficiaries may work with compassionate counselors that assist with customizing funeral arrangements with personalized one-on-one service.
Increase your intial benefit amount.
Waiver of Premium Rider
Life insurance can continue and no further payment may be required if you become disabled prior to age 60 and remain disabled for 6 continuous months.
Automatic Benefit Increases
Opportunity to increase your initial benefit amount.
WHO Alumni and/or spouse under age 50 may apply for 10-, 20-, or 30‑year term. Alumni under age 60 may apply for 10- or 20‑year term. Alumni under age 70 may apply for 10‑year term.
$100,000 - $3,000,000
in $25,000 increments
How Much Do I Need?
RATES Premium stays the same for the entire coverage term.*
Accelerated Benefits Option
Will Preparation Services
Funeral Planning Assistance
* Your individual rate will not change during your 10, 20, or 30 year term but the Carrier reserves the right to change the Group rates if needed
based on the overall performance of the 10 and 20 year plans.
WHO Alumni and/or spouse ages 50‑74 may apply. Coverage can continue to the the age of 95
$10,000 - $100,000
in $10,000 increments
How Much Do I Need?
RATES Premiums start low and increase at 5‑year intervals
This calculator is intended to help you in deciding what amount of life insurance protection may be right for you. It is not a substitute for a financial planner. Your financial information is not saved.
The Purdue Alumni Association receives financial benefits from the administrator that provides this program. These benefits fund alumni programs and activities.
The Accelerated Benefits Option is subject to state regulation and is intended to qualify for favorable federal income tax treatment, in which case the benefits will not be subject to federal income taxation. This information was written as a supplement to the marketing of life insurance products. Tax laws relating to accelerated benefits are complex and limitations may apply. You are advised to consult with and rely on an independent tax advisor about your own particular circumstances. Receipt of accelerated benefits may affect your eligibility, or that of your spouse or your family, for public assistance programs such as medical assistance (Medicaid), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Supplementary Social Security Income (SSI) and drug assistance programs. You are advised to consult with social service agencies concerning the effect that receipt of accelerated benefits will have on public assistance eligibility for you, your spouse or your family. Where the term spouse appears, it will also be equal to Domestic Partner.
Will Preparation Services and Estate Resolution Services are offered by MetLife Legal Plans. In certain states, Will Preparation Services and Estate Resolution Services are provided through insurance coverage underwritten by Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company and its affiliates, Warwick, RI. These services are provided at no additional cost to those who purchase Life Insurance only. Certain services are not covered by Estate Resolution Services, including matters in which there is a conflict of interest between the executor and any beneficiary or heir and the estate; any disputes with the group policyholder, MetLife and/or any of its affiliates; any disputes involving statutory benefits; will contests or litigation outside probate court; appeals; court costs, filing fees, recording fees, transcripts, witness fees, expenses to a third party, judgments or fines; and frivolous or unethical matters.
Grief Counseling and Funeral Planning Assistance are provided through an agreement with LifeWorks US Inc. LifeWorks is not an affiliate of MetLife, and the services LifeWorks provides are separate and apart from the insurance provided by MetLife. LifeWorks has a nationwide network of over 30,000 counselors. Counselors have master's or doctoral degrees and are licensed professionals. The Grief Counseling program does not provide support for issues such as: domestic issues, parenting issues, or marital/relationship issues (other than a finalized divorce). For such issues, alumni should inquire with their human resources department about available company resources. This program is available to insureds, their dependents and beneficiaries who have received a serious medical diagnosis or suffered a loss. Events that may result in a loss are not covered under this program unless and until such loss has occurred.


text:
Navy Accomplishes Several Firsts During Operation Odyssey Dawn
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS110401-20
From Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/ Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs
NAPLES, Italy (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy, while partnering with joint forces and coalition forces, made several first-time accomplishments During Operation Odyssey Dawn March 31.
During the beginning of Odyssey Dawn, strikes were made against Libyan military sites by coalition forces with Tomahawk Land to Air Missiles (TLAMs), the evening of March 19. Amidst the forces were two U.S. Navy ships and three submarines, including the USS Florida (SSGN 728).
This strike against Libyan forces marked the first time that an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine launched a TLAM in conflict.
"What an accomplishment for the submarine force," said Capt. Mark Davis, commodore, Task Force 69. "This multi-mission platform can remain undetected, yet provide a full range of capabilities to the commander."
The following day, U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers were used against hostile forces for the first time, in conjunction with U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers, as electronic warfare support jamming enemy transmissions.
Later in the operation, U.S. Navy and coalition units came to aid of the Libyan people to engage Libyan Coast Guard vessel Vittoria and two smaller craft who were firing indiscriminately at merchant vessels in the port of Misrata, Libya, March 28.
Commander, Task Force (CTF) 65, led by Capt. Dan Shaffer, analyzed their collected data to move appropriate Joint Force Maritime Component Command (JFMCC) forces into position to observe real time events, making this operation the first time that a sea combat commander has coordinated and executed a combined strike against hostile naval forces.
Vittoria was engaged and fired upon by a U.S. Navy P-3C Maritime Patrol aircraft with AGM-65 Maverick missiles; the first time that these missiles have ever been fired on a hostile vessel by a P-3C.
"P-3s have provided 24/7 ISR maritime domain awareness critical to the protection of U.S. and coalition surface assets in the JOA since the initiation of Odyssey Dawn," said Capt. Dan Schebler, commodore, Commander Task Force 67. "This engagement demonstrates the ability of the P-3 to complete the sensor-to-shooter kill chain, in parallel providing a key capability to the Joint Force Maritime Component Commander and the Composite Warfare Commander."
While in pursuit of Vittoria, USS Barry (DDG 52), part of the Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group, and coalition naval forces from the French, Italian, Spanish and United Kingdom navies, contributed to the engagement by keeping merchant and humanitarian assistance vessels away from the engagement area and out of harms way.
Joint Force Maritime Component Command was the maritime component of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn and was commanded by Vice Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr.
|Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list


text:
Today's News: Our Take - Linda Ronstadt Reveals She Has Parkinson's Disease
Eleven time Grammy winner Linda Ronstadt has Parksinson's disease, the singer told AARP.org.
Ronstadt, 67, says she was diagnosed with the disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, eight months ago. The "You're No Good" singer says she began exhibiting symptoms as far back as eight years ago.
See Robin Williams, Michael J. Fox and more familiar faces returning to fall TV
"I couldn't sing and I couldn't figure out why," she said. "I knew it was mechanical. I knew it had to do with the muscles, but I thought it might have also had something to do with the tick disease that I had. And it didn't occur to me to go to a neurologist. I think I've had it for seven or eight years already, because of the symptoms that I've had. Then I had a shoulder operation, so I thought that's why my hands were trembling."
"Parkinson's is very hard to diagnose, so when I finally went to a neurologist and he said, 'Oh, you have Parkinson's disease,' I was completely shocked," she continued. "I wouldn't have suspected that in a million, billion years.
Ronstadt says she walks with the aid of poles when she's on uneven ground and also uses a wheelchair when she travels. As a result of the disease, the folk-rock singer said now she can't "sing a note"
"No one can sing with Parkinson's disease," she said. "No matter how hard you try."
View original Linda Ronstadt Reveals She Has Parkinson's Disease at TVGuide.com
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


text:
Rays: American League Champions
The Rays did it. Hats off to them. After Boston's miraculous rally on Thursday, and their win on Saturday, the Rays' pitching easily controlled game 7.
Matt Garza was spectacular. 7 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts. He held the Red Sox down. The only run was a solo homer fron Dustin Pedroia. This guy is amazing. He has a great arm at second, plus a wonderful bat. Anyway, after Garza, the Rays' bullpen kicked in. It took 4 relievers in the 8th inning, but they got their goal done: preventing Boston to score when they had the bases loaded. It worked, as Boston left 8 runners on in the game. They certainly had their chances, but they were not able to get that clutch knock. On the pitching side, Jon Lester was not bad. He gave up only 3 runs, but it was enough to beat Boston.
The Red Sox really grew on me this postseason, and it was sad to see them lose like that. I'm used to that heartbreak because of the Padres. But just because I'm used to it doesn't mean it's easy. Losses in big games like that hurt. In the Padres case, they were constantly leaving the potential tying or winning runs on base. But they never got that clutch hit and so they lost. That's a huge part of why we had 99 losses this year.
But how 'bout those Rays? They were nothing before this year and now they're in the World Series. It's pretty incredible. But I don't think I'll be able to root for them in the WS. I've been rooting against them for the last 7 games, and believe me, it's not easy to flip around and immediately cheer for them. I think it would take a long time before a Red Sox fan could root for the Rays.
We'll have to see how this goes. It will be very interesting. I'm not going to pick a team to win (I mean, Tampa Bay beat the Boston Red Sox and the Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for goodness sakes!!), but I will be rooting for Philly. So, GO PHILLIES!


text:
SRD:Plains Terrain
|This material is published under the OGL
Plains Terrain[edit]
Plains come in three categories: farms, grasslands, and battlefields. Farms are common in settled areas, of course, while grasslands represent untamed plains. The battlefields where large armies clash are temporary places, usually reclaimed by natural vegetation or the farmer's plow. Battlefields represent a third terrain category because adventurers tend to spend a lot of time there, not because they're particularly prevalent.
The table below shows the proportions of terrain elements in the different categories of plains. On a farm, light undergrowth represents most mature grain crops, so farms growing vegetable crops will have less light undergrowth, as will all farms during the time between harvest and a few months after planting.
The terrain elements in the table below are mutually exclusive.
|Plains Category
|Light undergrowth
|Heavy undergrowth
|Light rubble
Whether they're crops or natural vegetation, the tall grasses of the plains function like light undergrowth in a forest. Particularly thick bushes form patches of heavy undergrowth that dot the landscape in grasslands.
Light Rubble[edit]
On the battlefield, light rubble usually represents something that was destroyed: the ruins of a building or the scattered remnants of a stone wall, for example. It functions as described in the desert terrain section above.
Often dug before a battle to protect soldiers, a trench functions as a low wall, except that it provides no cover against adjacent foes. It costs 2 squares of movement to leave a trench, but it costs nothing extra to enter one. Creatures outside a trench who make a melee attack against a creature inside the trench gain a +1 bonus on melee attacks because they have higher ground. In farm terrain, trenches are generally irrigation ditches.
A common defensive structure, a berm is a low, earthen wall that slows movement and provides a measure of cover. Put a berm on the map by drawing two adjacent rows of steep slope (described in Hills Terrain, above), with the edges of the berm on the downhill side. Thus, a character crossing a two-square berm will travel uphill for 1 square, then downhill for 1 square. Two square berms provide cover as low walls for anyone standing behind them. Larger berms provide the low wall benefit for anyone standing 1 square downhill from the top of the berm.
Wooden fences are generally used to contain livestock or impede oncoming soldiers. It costs an extra square of movement to cross a wooden fence. A stone fence provides a measure of cover as well, functioning as low walls. Mounted characters can cross a fence without slowing their movement if they succeed on a DC 15 Ride check. If the check fails, the steed crosses the fence, but the rider falls out of the saddle.
Other Plains Terrain Features[edit]
Occasional trees dot the landscape in many plains, although on battlefields they're often felled to provide raw material for siege engines (described in Urban Features). Hedgerows (described in Marsh Terrain) are found in plains as well. Streams, generally 5 to 20 feet wide and 5 to 10 feet deep, are commonplace.
Stealth and Detection in Plains[edit]
In plains terrain, the maximum distance at which a Spot check for detecting the nearby presence of others can succeed is 6d6×40 feet, although the specifics of your map may restrict line of sight. Plains terrain provides no bonuses or penalties on Listen and Spot checks. Cover and concealment are not uncommon, so a good place of refuge is often nearby, if not right at hand.
This page is protected from editing because it is an integral part of the Dungeons and Dragons Wiki. Please discuss possible problems on the talk page.


text:
I can't say I was happy when my wife's friend brought over her seven-year-old terrorist of a child, Charlie, one summer afternoon in 2010, the same day I brought home a freshly cellophaned copy of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. All I'd wanted to do was pop it into my first edition PlayStation 3 (the one that looks like a Prometheus stage prop), sit on my ass, forget my name, and blow some shit up. The entire Uncharted franchise is basically a cross between the Indiana Jones movies (sans Crystal Skull) and every Die Hard ever made, and the truth is that when I surrender myself to such afternoons with my PlayStation, I'm partial to doing so with 16 grams of weed.
Charlie himself could be, as his mother was prone to say, 'feral.' His fundamental impulse was to savagely attack the male testicular region with whatever object turned convenient. It didn't matter whose testicles they were. If a pair happened to enter his purview, he just lunged at them like a jaguar.
But when Charlie walked into my living room in a Captain Flapjack t-shirt, he was immediately intrigued by the Tibetan snow flurry conjured on my 27-inch flat screen. And truth be told, my heart just crumbled watching his lusty gaze. I felt…young again.
"Whoa…" he said, bushy hair practically shocked awake. He knew exactly what he was looking at. Every child does, whether from Oakland or Macau.
"Can I play?" he asked.
At the moment I'd failed to understand what sin I, Charlie, or poor Nathan Drake had just committed.
A question I found all too familiar. I'd grown up in the era of Megaman, anyway. Contra. Castlevania. Zelda. Duck Hunt. The Silver Age of Nintendo Power, both as a magazine and an idea. I practically spent my entire childhood uttering those very words: "Can I play?" with murderous insistence. In the moment, my insouciant childhood was jarred to the forefront, and suddenly I knew that if I didn't do the right thing here, I'd be exactly the type of person that, when I was seven, I liked to hate.
"Of course you can," I said, with what I hoped was a cool-grownup smile. My nether regions were no longer of concern. I was going to blow Charlie's mind. Not only was he going to play a video game. He was going to play the title IGN rated 9.5 out of 10, and that caused PlayStation Magazine to extol, "Forget Game of The Year. This is one of the greatest games of all time!"
I handed over the controller, which Charlie proceeded to examine like an alien landmine. The kid knew squat about the medium. Charlie's father's house was austere, moneyed, and mirthless, and the man himself, no different. Charlie's mother's, an upbeat woman with a background in modern dance and a love for the Goddess, though caring and attentive, had lodged video games in a category as foreign as Statistical Thermodynamics. In her walk-up apartment were mostly books on Native American Basket Looms, and other things you tend to find in Bay Area, Feng Shui domiciles.
Charlie nibbled his tongue as he thumbed the wrong controls, so I repositioned them, encouraging familiarity. For anyone who knows Uncharted 2, I'd just watched the opening cut scene and now come back to the present, where, wounded, Drake picks up his first weapon, and proceeds to wind his way from a train wreck.
Charlie's eyes bulged as he shot that weapon. He became mesmerized at the cordite BOOMs on the screen. I had discovered a rehabilitation tool for budding ball-busters the world over.
But before he could finish the phrase, "This is soooooo cool," the living room door creaked open.
"Whatcha two playing?" Charlie's mother said with a fanciful hand flourish. Hers was a look of kind concern as she took in the images on the screen. Parenthood (especially when replete with a dubious partner) conjured a fair amount of trepidation.
"It's okay, mom," the seven-year-old whined, as if he'd anticipated what was to come.
His mother saw the gun on the screen. The bullets flying. The trains burning.
"No," she said. He winced as his mother gently began to drag him from the screen and into the kitchen. "Swords are okay. But not guns. Way too violent."
"But I know it's not real," Charlie said, his signature ferret-y grin returning as he struggled from his mother's grip. At one point, he gave her a smack. "I know it's not real!"
At the moment I'd failed to understand what sin I, Charlie, or poor Nathan Drake had just committed. Only after Charlie had been removed to the kitchen to recuperate did his mother came back to fill me in. With a mixture of sweet and stern, she thanked me for playing with him, appreciative of male guidance in his life other than his father's.
Children, even feral ones, however, whether born in 1982 or 2005, are experts at make-believe. They're also experts in knowing when someone crosses the line.
"He's just not old enough for guns," she said. "You'll understand when you're a parent. For now, only swords."
I nodded my head, a little embarrassed. As she left the room the reality set in that I'd been teaching her seven-year-old boy how to fire a virtual firearm. Uncharted's variation on the Colt .45.
For a while afterwards I went between feeling culpable and self-righteous. When not indignant, I couldn't keep from thinking, in retrospect, it had been my onus to protect Charlie from harm. We live in the age of Columbine, Springfield, Aurora. And I was the adult. The arbiter of good sense. I was, some might say, part of the village. And now, when I'd had my chance to embark some knowledge, as opposed to teaching an already volatile child how to play chess, I'd taught him how to gun down smugglers in the Tibetan frost in the aftermath of a train crash. What type of asshole was I?
In the wake of recent gun violence in the United States, a phenomenon taking on the dimensions of an epidemic, there's been a lot of conversation about cause and effect. Who's accountable when a Jared Loughner patrons his local Wal-Mart to pick up ammo for his Glock? Or when a James Holmes dashes into a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, less than a mile from the house I grew up in, only to make you wish Batman really existed? Is it the fault individualism? Right-wing extremism? The PlayStation, the Xbox, and the Wii? In the morass of Second Amendment bombast and counter bombast–much of which this debate revolves around–I found myself looking at the sources of American fantasy, and whether or not they truly, in some form or another, could be looked upon for slaying the sanity of our youth.
As a thought experiment, I decided to compare the video game I played as a seven-year-old, Contra, for the original Nintendo, with the most violent video game I came across in the last three years: Sniper Elite V2, for the PlayStation 3:
Premise: Lance 'Scorpion' Bean and Bill "Mad Dog' Rizer, are sent, side scroll, through what is practically Vietnam, to destroy the alien terrorist group Red Falcon.
Weapons: Rifle, Spread Gun, Flame Torch, Rapid Fire Gun, and Barrier Gun.
Level of Violence: What made this game a challenge for me at seven (particularly until I found The Code) is that touching anything kills you instantly, an act depicted with a Brrrrzzzoowww sound, and a bloodless fade into oblivion.
Premise: OSS Officer Karl Fairburne fights through Nazi and Soviet operatives in the final days of WWII in attempt to destroy ballistic missiles.
Weapons: You have a variety of weapons to choose from, including sniper rifles. The game is stealth-based, which means most of it involves skulking about for your next target, and blowing it away from a distance.
Level of Violence: The most controversial feature of SEV2 is the X-Ray Kill Cam. When you fire your sniper rifle, the Cam activates, following the bullet's trajectory in slow motion as it reaches its target, and then goes inside the target, tearing apart organs and bones.
Things had certainly changed since I was kid. If not in subject matter, then in the degree to of reality rendered digital. Maybe I really had made a mistake with Charlie, not thinking to realize that the world had become a different place since 1987.
There's something about narrative, however–perhaps in its inborn mendacity–that's hard to twist out of focus. I've always thought people who try to demonize entertainment culture, especially modules that feature violence, even in the modern age, are lacking in crucial grey matter. Obviously guns are an issue in this country. Though I might be able to see the validity in owning a Beretta for self-defense after actual psychological testing (not the current NICS-touted bullshit), there is no reason anyone not defending a full-on land war should be handling an AK-47. But at the same time, just because we should decrease our access to guns does not mean that art should be anesthetized from exploring, or even acting out, images of violence, as a vaccine for the daily news. Reality and representation aren't mutually exclusive, even when they appear to be. And how important was it to eschew all references to firearms, or weapons in general, afraid of what exposure may bring? Are swords really 'okay' for a seven-year-old, as opposed to semi-automatic weapons? I'd heard such logic used before, and was bothered by it. Swords are antiquated weapons, sure, but sheared flays of steel nonetheless, designed to maim, gut, slit, and splay. Just read a page from A Song of Ice and Fire (the grotesque and popular basis for Game of Thrones) to get a feel for how grizzly blades can be.
Children, even feral ones, however, whether born in 1982 or 2005, are experts at make-believe. They're also experts in knowing when someone crosses the line. If an injury occurs, a game is over. Adults are alerted. If negligence is at fault, someone gets in trouble. When I first began playing video games, no one had to tell me what was real and what wasn't. I didn't have a perfect home either, but I knew that only when you took a plastic cartridge with some sensational illustration, blew the dust away from the bottom, and inserted it in the electronic grey box, was an image was projected on a screen. If the power went out, the game was done. If you had no television, it never started. In some ways, I wonder if games with a high amount of interactivity served to strengthen my ability to distinguish the real world from pretend. In the digital world, you can defeat fire-breathing dragons. In reality, however, the place you call home could be a dragon itself, and you could never defeat it, no matter how hard you tried.
I'm not saying that I should have let Charlie play Uncharted 2 that day in my house. I might have considered that certain narratives appeal to children while others do not. And some subjects are premature. I wouldn't have dared show Charlie Grand Theft Auto, for instance. Or God of War I through III, for that matter, because someone's head is ripped off pretty much every six and a half seconds. But isn't it possible that a fear of new technology, and new modes of pretend, can also affect our youth?
I understood why Charlie's mother fretted for her child, and I'll never let anyone's child but mine touch anything I own without ironclad legal protection (a symptom of the 21st century if there ever was one). But I also don't know if Uncharted 2 would be capable of causing a young mind to snap. I saw the glee in Charlie's eyes that day. He'd begun to detach himself from the discord surrounding him in his daily life, disappearing into a less concrete world. Sometimes I just worry that if children can't decide on the boundaries between reality and fantasy for themselves once in a while, they'll become convinced that dark urges are only fit for real life, where the realm of make-believe is rarely welcome. And that would be truly frightening in my opinion. A genuine cause for concern.
Samuel Sattin, Mills College MFA, lives in Oakland, California. His debut novel, The League of Somebodies, which has been described by author and graphic novelist Mat Johnson as being 'so rich with originality that it's actually radioactive,' is being released by Dark Coast Press in March of 2013. A recipient of NYS and SLS Merit Fellowships, excerpts of his work have been published in The Cobalt Review, Cent Magazine, Out of the Gutter Online, and Generations Literary Journal. Sattin was raised the child of an ill-fit marriage between an NES and an Atari, and has been under constant psychoanalytic surveillance ever since.
This essay originally appeared on The Weeklings and is being republished with permission.


text:
Few places in the world are better for smoking a cigar than the Tour d'Argent restaurant in Paris. It's breathtaking to sit at one of its tables six floors above the Seine and gaze out at the skyline of the city. You'll want to smoke at least a double corona at the end of your meal to prolong the experience as long as you can.
Tour d'Argent is one of five restaurants in Paris with three stars in the Michelin Guide, the gastronomic bible that rates nearly all the great restaurants in France. Tour d'Argent first received the honor in 1923, and things have evolved slowly ever since. The evolution appears to have placed the restaurant in the '70s now in terms of style and cuisine. The starchy food and ambience definitely seem out of place by today's standards. Don't let that turn you off.
A Sunday lunch at Tour d'Argent with the Seine and Notre Dame below and a hearty bottle of '86 red Burgundy from Henri Jayer within an arm's reach can be blissful. The magnificent view of the sun sparkling off dark-gray-slated roofs and the wakes of barges making their way up the Seine is simply captivating.
Service at Tour d'Argent is superior. The army of waiters and sommeliers are omnipresent yet you barely notice them. Your every hope and desire as a customer are fulfilled without any form of intrusion as in so many other top-class restaurants around the world.
The wine service is particularly outstanding. Head sommelier David Ridgway, a Briton whose knowledge of great French wine is unequalled, is a well-established feature of the restaurant and he offers fabulous advice on what to drink from the restaurant's phone-book-sized wine list. He presides over the labyrinth of cellars (ask for a tour after your meal) filled with more than 400,000 bottles. Tour d'Argent received a Wine Spectator Grand Award for its wine list in 1986; it remains one of the greatest in the world. Although the restaurant has hundreds of selections of the finest Bordeaux in a range of vintages, this remains the best place to drink red or white Burgundy. Ask Ridgway for advice.
The food is completely overshadowed by everything else about the restaurant. A good starter is a light puff pastry filled with scallops in a rich cream sauce, followed by a main course of pressed duck. Duck is a specialty of Tour d'Argent and is always good. This is a restaurant where it is advisable to stick with the house specialities, especially those on the simple side. You have a better chance of not being disappointed. Don't expect nouvelle cuisine here. Owner Claude Terrail, whose family has owned the restaurant since 1910, is steadfast in maintaining the quality of the food whether it seems dated or not. He's even been known to fire chefs who try to update the cuisine.
But who cares about the food anyway? The view and the wine are what you came for. Don't forget a cigar. The restaurant's cigar selection is more than ample with a range of sizes and brands including Hoyo Epicure No. 1, Partagas 8-9-8, Hoyo du Gourmet, H. Upmann Petit Corona and Montecristo Nos. 1 and 3 and Joyitas. If you want a big cigar, bring your own, especially if you prefer a Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona. There were few large stogies available other than Romeo y Julieta Churchill.
Sip a glass of vintage Armagnac (there's a massive selection of Cognacs and Ports) and puff away on a Havana. You could find few better places to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon.
-- James Suckling
Tour d'Argent
15 quai Tournelle
75005 Paris
Phone: 33-143-54-23-31
Fax: 44-07-12-04
Lunch and dinner:about $120 to $200 per person with wine