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American Horror Story Coven Recap
The Most Twisted Moments of American Horror Story: Coven's Finale
American Horror Story: Coven has concluded, and we have a new Supreme! The four remaining ladies (Zoe, Madison, Queenie, and Misty) are competing for the championship of the Seven Wonders, and as Cordelia says: "Childhood is over, my dears . . . kick ass tomorrow." They have a dramatic Last Supper, and then it's off to the races as the girls compete for their Girl Scout badges of telekinesis and transmutation, among others. Heads up, it gets bloody and not everyone survives. More surprises: Fiona didn't actually die last week! (What's that? You're not surprised? Me either.)
The episode is actually a quaint bookend to a colorful and shocking season, though I did miss Madame LaLaurie and Marie Laveau. Let's take a look at the most twisted moments!
- Everyone fails the Seven Wonders . . . except Cordelia. All hail the new Supreme! Cordelia show the girls who's boss and, at Myrtle's urging, decides to perform the Seven Wonders herself. Her sight gets restored, and, likewise, she vows to restore the Academy to be a haven for wayward witches. She even goes public as a witch, shedding light on their kind. (Side note: if you think you're a witch, you can email her at firstname.lastname@example.com.) Zoe and Queenie don't make it through their trials, but they do become Cordelia's right-hand women, staffers at the new, improved Miss Robichaux's.
- Fiona is trapped with The Axeman forever. Fiona totally pulled shenanigans on us last week and tricked The Axeman into thinking he'd murdered her. She actually escapes and intends to come back and kill the new Supreme once she's been declared. Instead, she has a heartwarming conversation with Cordelia, and the two finally get some closure about their troubled relationship . . . then she dies. Have some sympathy, guys, she did ruin "a perfectly good pair of Jimmy Choos." Great news, though! She'll live on forever in her own personal hell. She wakes up in a cabin with The Axeman bringing home some fish. It's really not that bad, except for the decor ("KNOTTY PINE?") and the fact that Papa Legba is there, creepily laughing.
- Zoe skewers herself. Zoe's been the favorite for Supreme all along, but a friendly game of transmutation tag gets out of control when Zoe actually transports herself to the top of the gate, skewering her torso. I'm not sure how they get her off the fence (I guess they are witches), and Madison refuses to bring her back. No worries, Cordelia does the duties later.
- Kyle murders Madison. Kyle seriously loves Zoe. He watches as Madison refuses to revive Zoe, and then, understandably, he gets upset. He starts to choke her, and when she pleads with him that she loves him and she did it for them, he just goes, "You're not that good an actress," and finishes her off. Death to the wicked witch! Spalding shows up and assures him they can bury her and no one will notice, and just like that, Kyle inherits the job of butler at Miss Robichaux's.
- Misty Day disintegrates into a pile of dust. Poor Misty. During one of the challenges, she gets caught reliving her worst memory over and over again. Flash back to middle school science class and she keeps bringing her dissection frog back to life. Her science teacher thinks she just snuck in a new frog and forces her to kill the live one. She's unable to escape from the dream and eventually just turns to dust. Sorry, Misty fans. I actually did love this challenge, especially because it reminded me of The Amazing Race when Cordelia tells Queenie, "You're the first to return." Too bad she doesn't win a cool trip to the Bahamas.
- Myrtle is burned at the stake. To be fair, it's Myrtle's own fault. After Cordelia inherits the Supreme crown, Myrtle says she wants Cordelia's reign to be pure and fair, and because Myrtle melon-balled out the Councils' eyes, she knows she deserves to be punished, so she forces Cordelia to execute her. She does get one last word: "Balenciaga!" I don't even know, you guys.
Now that it's over, what did you think of the season, and did the finale do Coven justice?


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Chelsea On The Rocks
Chelsea on the Rocks celebrates the personalities and artistic voices that have emerged from the legendary residence, the Chelsea Hotel, in the heart of New York. Once considered an untouchable, impenetrable tower for writers, artists, musicians and mavericks, it has recently been claimed as a boutique hotel venture for a management company that shows blatant disregard for its formidable history.
Composer, keyboardist

subset: commoncrawl


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Greinke, Puig carry LA over Padres
Coming off one of the best months of his career, Zack Greinke hopes he's not peaking too early.
After all, the playoffs are looming, and that's a place the Los Angeles Dodgers haven't been since 2009.
"Just don't want to waste all the good starts now," Greinke said after allowing one run over seven innings of a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
"It's been good the last nine, 10 starts," he said. "Location's been as good as it's been for a long stretch."
Yasiel Puig homered in the sixth to help the Dodgers complete a three-game sweep.
The NL West leaders earned their 10th sweep of the season and first against San Diego. With their fourth straight victory, they extended their roll from August, when the Dodgers went 23-6 for their most wins in a month since moving to Los Angeles in 1958.
"Our guys have grinded it out pretty good," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "We had trouble putting runs on the board (the last two games)."
Greinke (14-3) won his sixth straight start for the first time since winning nine in a row over the 2008-09 seasons. The right-hander gave up two hits, struck out seven and walked two. Greinke, who came in batting .340, also singled with two outs in the fifth.
He stole second with a head-first slide that inning.
"It was a last-minute decision," he said. "I felt it was safer than going feet first. He didn't put his foot or knee in front of the bag. A tight game at the moment, so I thought it was important to get to second base. It ended up working fine."
Puig hit his 14th homer into the left-field pavilion on the first pitch he saw from Dale Thayer (2-5) with one out in the sixth, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. The sellout crowd of 52,168 cheered the 22-year-old Cuban defector on Cuban Heritage Day.
His homers are third-most on the team despite playing in just 79 games since being called up from the minors.
Paco Rodriguez, born in Miami of Cuban descent, retired both batters he faced in the eighth, extending his scoreless innings streak to 11.0 in 13 appearances since Aug. 3.
"Of course I felt good I hit a home run on Cuban Heritage Day," Puig said through a Spanish translator. "I also felt great Paco was able to have a good outing as well."
Puig and Rodriguez interacted with fans before the game, when Puig also met actor Andy Garcia, who was born in Havana, Cuba.
"I felt very proud to meet another Cuban who is famous here in the United States," Puig said.
Kenley Jansen retired the side in the ninth, including two strikeouts to give him 100 this season, for his 24th save in 27 chances, including 17 in a row.
"He wants to be that guy," Mattingly said. "We're seeing a guy who is more and more confident."
San Diego had the potential tying run on third in the eighth after Reymond Fuentes singled, went to second on a wild pitch by Ronald Belisario and advanced to third on a groundout.
Rodriguez came in and struck out Will Venable before pinch-hitter Chris Denorfia grounded back to the mound. The ball bounced off the pitcher's glove before Rodriguez chased it down and threw out Denorfia to end the inning.
The Dodgers tied the score at 1 in the third on Mark Ellis' RBI single with two outs that scored Carl Crawford, who doubled.
San Diego went ahead in the top of the third on Alexi Amarista's two-out RBI single that scored Fuentes, who walked, got sacrificed to second and stole third.
Fuentes singled in the eighth for his first major league hit.
Padres starter Tyson Ross gave up one run and five hits in five innings. He struck out a career-high 10 and walked one.
"I wish I could have pitched deeper into the game, but they were making me work and having some patient at-bats," he said. "I was just trying to execute in a couple of tough situations. Giving up one run and keeping us in the ballgame is always my goal."
The Padres were limited to their fewest hits in the three-game series after getting 11 on Friday and 10 on Saturday. They lost for the sixth time in eight games.
NOTES: Newly acquired INF Michael Young will join the Dodgers on Monday in Denver, where they open a six-game trip that includes three games in Cincinnati. ... The Dodgers recalled C Drew Butera, SS Dee Gordon, RHP Stephen Fife, RHP Peter Moylan and 1B-OF Scott Van Slyke from Triple-A Albuquerque. All but Butera have seen time with the big club this season. Butera will be making his Dodgers debut after being acquired from Minnesota last month. ... Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said OF Matt Kemp and RHP Chris Withrow will join the team at some point. Kemp has been used as the DH as he rehabs a sprained left ankle at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, where he was 0 for 11 with five strikeouts going into Sunday. "I know he doesn't feel good yet at the plate," Mattingly said. ... The Padres recalled C Chris Robinson and LHP Tommy Layne from Triple-A Tucson.


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There are very few persons who have not heard of the fame of Peter the Great, the founder, as he is generally regarded by mankind, of Russian civilization. The celebrity, however, of the great Muscovite sovereign among young persons is due in a great measure to the circumstance of his having repaired personally to Holland, in the course of his efforts to introduce the industrial arts among his people, in order to study himself the art and mystery of shipbuilding, and of his having worked with his own hands in a ship-yard there. The little shop where Peter pursued these practical studies still stands in Saardam, a ship-building town not far from Amsterdam. The building is of wood, and is now much decayed; but, to preserve it from farther injury, it has been incased in a somewhat larger building of brick, and it is visited annually by great numbers of curious travelers.
The whole history of Peter, as might be expected from the indications of character developed by this incident, forms a narrative that is full of interest and instruction for all.
|Date of Publication:


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Last month over at the SF Signal Mind Meld, the question was, What makes a good genre review? I held forth on my three wishes for better reviews: I want more context (telling me what the book is saying in relation to other books and the culture), I want some discussion of the prose itself (with excerpts, please), and (especially) I want reviews that are well written. Is that too much to ask?
I guess not. The universe answered in the best possible (and most ego-pleasing) way: with James Sallis' review of Raising Stony Mayhall, in the May/June issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The review is extremely positive (that's the ego-pleasing part), but it also fulfills my three wishes.
First he talks about the book in terms of where it fits in terms the genre, and how he deals with students who come across a genre book and say they "don't usually read this sort of thing":
Nor will many claims bring a more impassioned response from me than "Well, this isn't really science fiction (or a mystery, or a western), is it? This transcends (or deconstructs, or suberts) the genre."
Draw them guns, partner, you better be ready to open fire.
He goes on to talk about why he doesn't read much zombie fiction, because zombies are "Your basic one trick, or half a trick, pony."
Well, not if the zombies have the good fortune of being in Daryl Gregory's blazingly intelligent novel that doesn't subvert or transcend or deconstruct one damn thing but instead, as all great writing does, honors and fulfills its heritage.
Wish #1: Check.
Sallis goes on to quote the opening page of the novel, and after that, a few more sentences as well, talking about what he likes about the prose. Wish #2: Done and done. But even more pleasingly (but not surprisingly– Sallis is an excellent writer, probably more famous now for having written the novel behind the also excellent movie Drive) the way he writes about the book makes me want to read my own novel. That's Wish #3 to retire the side. I'm a lucky man.
Other review news:
In Episode 10 of the SF Squee Cast, Seanan McGuire delivered a blush-inducing review of Unpossible and Other Stories. I only learned later that I'd met Seanan at Bill Willingham's party at the San Diego Comic Con… and ignored her. Even though she tried to talk about my book Devil's Alphabet. WHAT?! First of all, I feel terrible. Second, I can't believe I passed up a chance to talk about my own book with someone who wanted to hash through the weird genetics in that novel.
Last, I came across a lovely review of Raising Stony Mayhall on Geek Speak Magazine. In their "Recommended" status they rated it "Hell yes!" But here's my favorite paragraph, which comes at the end:
Geek Speak's Brad Crammond had the nerve – the nerve, I say! – to skim through this and call it "Jodi Picoult with zombies", and while I take exception to his dismissive tone, I don't entirely disagree. This novel doeshave some elements of the tear-jerking saga about it, and I won't deny there were tears for me in here: many. But every single one of them was worth it, and the novel's thought-provoking ending has stayed with me in all the months since first I read it, and often comes to me at quiet moments, when I am contemplating the vast complexities of life, the universe and everything. Indeed, if the job of speculative fiction is to make us think, then all I can say is this book is due for a stellar performance review and a hefty Christmas bonus, because think I did… and still am.


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The coffee berry borer, or broca (Hypothenemus hampei) is the most serious insect pest of coffee. Originally native to Africa, it has been unintentionally introduced to just about every coffee-producing nation in the world. Female beetles lay 30-50 eggs inside a coffee cherry, which hatch and develop inside. Thus, they damage the cherry and cause defects or the cherry drops off the tree and causes a loss. Economic impact can be substantial.
Nearly the entire life cycle of this very tiny beetle takes place inside the coffee ripening coffee cherry. For that reason, pesticides can be largely ineffective against it. Nonetheless, the neurotoxic organochlorine insecticide endosulfan is widely used in coffee farms to try to fight the borers. Not only is this not very effective, it is bad for the environment, and the life history of these beetles enables them to rapidly develop resistance to endosulfan.
The dangers of endosulfan
Endosulfan is considered highly toxic, and it has been banned in many countries, including the entire European Union. In the U.S., the Fish and Wildlife Service recommended it be banned in 2002, and a number of science and environmental groups continue to pressure the EPA to ban this pesticide (updates on U.S. ban and worldwide phase-out).
Many cases of poisoning of coffee workers by endosulfan in Colombia resulted in a ban in that country in 2001. Endosulfan, to be even marginally effective, requires rather intensive spraying because of the relatively low probability of making contact with borer beetles that are actually outside of a coffee cherry and the high concentration needed for vapor to cause mortality of any beetles that have penetrated the skin of a coffee cherry.
Even when pesticides are banned in developed nations, they may continue to be used for many years in developing countries, such as coffee growing nations. Endosulfan is toxic to insects and animals (including humans) and can persist in the environment. Pesticides are frequently applied in these countries without proper safety precautions. At a recent coffee conference, Ernest Carmen of Costa Rica's Cafe Cristina said that endosulfan is regulated and considered toxic in Costa Rica, but that it is freely available and indiscriminately applied, even though it is not that effective against broca.
What makes coffee berry borers so able to develop resistance to endosulfan?
Coffee berry borers have an interesting life history that enables them to readily develop pesticide resistance. Most borers are females (13 to each male). All males are flightless, and mate with their sisters because they never leave the cherry in which they are born. This results in genetic inbreeding. When the mutation for endosulfan resistance pops up, it can rapidly spread through a population because of this inbreeding [1,2]. This has already occurred on the island of New Caledonia [3], and would be devastating if (or when) it happens in a mainland coffee producing region.
Alternate solution: promote shade coffee and habitat preservation to control pests!
This study found ground-foraging ants are more common and eat more coffee berry borers in fallen coffee cherries in shade coffee than on sun coffee farms. This one found that coffee farms that had little shade also had fewer beetle species — except they had a much higher abundance of coffee berry borers. And this study showed that at coffee farms which were close to natural habitat patches, migratory birds preyed upon coffee berry borers, enough to bestow a healthy economic benefit to farmers.
New biocontrol methods, especially the role of natural predators associated with shade, is an area that is and will continue to draw more research attention.
[1] Functional haplodiploidy: a mechanism for the spread of insecticide resistance in an important international insect pest. 1995. Brun, L. O., J. Stuart, V. Gaudichon, K. Aronstein, and R. H. Ffrench-Constant. PNAS 92:9861-9865.
[2] Genetic sleuths explain insects' resistance – Hypothenemus hampei, or coffee berry borer, resistant to pesticide endosulfan due to their genetic makeup and their practice of breeding with siblings. 1995. Science News.
[3] Endosulfan resistance in Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in New Caledonia. 1989. Brun, L.O., Marcillaud, C., Gaudichon, V. and Suckling, D.M.Jrl. Econ. Entomol. 82:1311-1316.
Coffee berry borer beetle by Eric Erbe, USDA Agricultural Research Service.Revised on January 7, 2022


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Rumors about Microsoft's mobile plan are evolving, weirdly! Today, we've got dueling speculation: from Twitter, evidence of new "Danger" hardware; from Microsoft, mention of "the next generation of Windows Phone." It's mystery meat, this stuff, but at least it's juicy.
Engadget spent the better part of their morning piecing together a puzzle's worth of cryptic, oddly tagged tweets from unknown Twitter users. What was so interesting about these Tweets? See if you can tell:
DANGER. Lots of DANGER. This is the company that made the Sidekick, and that Microsoft absorbed. It's also the division variously implicated in the exclusive Pink phone documents leaked to us back in September, which may or may not actually represent Microsoft's next phone play, rather than a straightforward Windows Mobile X evolution. The kicker? Sidekick devices don't tag their tweets "Danger", and these tweets have been ramping up very quickly in the past week. So!
Microsoft's been giving more direct clues as well, by way of their MIX 10 conference site. MIX is an annual developers' conference held by Microsoft in March, just after Mobile World Congress, where Microsoft is almost definitely making some kind of mobile announcement. Peek the schedule, and you'll find this:
The next generation of Windows Mobile phones. Sounds like a bit of an overstatement for an incremental update like Windows Mobile 6.5.3/6.6/whatever, and why would developers need new guidance for developing on a platform built on the same codebase, anyway? Again: delicious mystery meat.
The wild, scattershot nature of these rumors is actually what keep them interesting, I think. There's evidence that we're soon going to see Pink, and that we're soon going to see Windows Mobile 7. The obvious conclusion, if not a particularly descriptive one, is that we're going to see a new thing—a single new thing—that's the product of all the wild rumors we've heard so far, changing nomenclature aside. And, fingers crossed, it may actually be awesome. [Engadget, MobileTechWorld]


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Timely, reliable market information allows pastoralists to make better decisions about selling animals amid drought
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Tanzania has devised a new system to help pastoralists and cattle traders track real-time market information on livestock, while keeping them abreast of weather conditions likely to affect their animals' wellbeing.
The system allows livestock dealers to monitor prices and volumes in markets across the country, while being alerted to the onset of drought and diseases that could affect herds.
The Livestock Information Knowledge System (LINKS) is an online platform that uses global positioning system (GPS) technology, text messaging and web-based computer analysis, providing information to pastoralists via mobile phones or the internet.
"We decided to establish this system because we value the contribution of pastoralists to our economy. However, more education is needed to enable them to make better use of (it)," said Saning'o Ole Telele, Tanzania's deputy minister for livestock development and fisheries.
The project was launched in 2013, and so far 53 out of 369 cattle markets have been connected to the system, with a target of covering them all. Changes in trade patterns and market trends allow LINKS to identify and provide early warning of critical food shortages for animals, deteriorating grazing conditions and disease outbreaks.
The system - which is funded and run by the Tanzanian government in partnership with the United States Development Agency, USAID - monitors major domestic livestock, including cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys and horses.
Around 90 percent of rural Tanzanians depend on income from livestock and agricultural products, according to the government. That means timely access to reliable livestock market information is needed to help pastoralists and traders make good decisions.
There are around 28 million registered mobile phone subscribers in Tanzania, and the expansion of private telecoms companies has made it possible for people in remote areas to communicate at lower cost.
The country has 22.8 million head of cattle, the third highest in Africa after Ethiopia and Sudan, according to a 2011 animal census conducted by Tanzania's statistics bureau.
The government estimates that over 70 percent of livestock are kept in semi-arid areas in the north, centre and west of the country. These regions suffer frequent drought, forcing herders to migrate in search of water.
Under LINKS, monitors drawn from government institutions collect information at various markets, which is then coded and sent to a database by cell phone or email.
"These monitors are adequately trained in how to approach sellers, traders and brokers so that they can collect reliable data effectively," deputy minister Ole Telele said.
Market monitors at Pugu cattle market in Dar es Salaam told Thomson Reuters Foundation the introduction of an electronic system has simplified their work, allowing them to reach thousands of pastoralists and cattle traders in a short time.
"All the information is at our finger tips - our job is to make sure it gets to the intended audience, and since we use electronic gadgets, it is much easier to send," said monitor Japhet Mosha.
The main objective of LINKS is to increase the household income of pastoral communities in East Africa by boosting the efficiency of livestock markets.
"The use of a reliable market information system creates transparency and enables pastoralists to make informed decisions," said John Lymo, an official at the ministry of industries and trade, which runs the project together with the livestock development ministry.
Another aim is to determine the application and usefulness of information and communication technologies in improving Tanzania's livestock trade.
The market data, which pastoralists can access on their phones for free, helps them decide when to send their animals to market. Monitors also get printouts of market and climate data, which they distribute to herders.
"It was a bit tricky when I first used this service, but now I am used to it, I can easily retrieve the data by sending a message. The information is useful because it gives me an idea of which markets offer better prices," said Andrea Malingumu, a livestock keeper at Pugu market.
Livestock prices and volumes are collected through interviews with traders at the peak of the market day. The monitors also collect data on animal breeds, classes (categorised according to age) and grades (categorised according to size).
Average prices for each are then calculated, along with the total volumes of livestock by animal kind. The data is coded and sent to the LINKS database using SMS and email, or posted directly on the web.
In many markets across East Africa, livestock are bought and sold on the basis of visual assessment of the animal's body condition rather than weight. But under the LINKS grading system, they are put in uniform breed groups to reflect price differences based on frame size, muscle and weight.
Minister Ole Telele said the project aims to ensure that all markets use weighing machines, because that would help pastoralists realise better returns on their produce.
When information is requested by livestock keepers or traders, they input a specific code assigned to each market that prompts a response with the data for the given market and region. A shorthand SMS text coding system was devised to accommodate the limited number of characters permitted in a single SMS.
Similar systems are operating in Kenya and Ethiopia, whereby pastoralists who have traditionally relied on middlemen to get market information can now retrieve it directly via their mobile phones.
Kizito Makoye is a journalist based in Dar es Salaam.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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Products Per Page: 12 24 48 72 96


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It is one of Dyer's Axioms that a nation doesn't change its naval posture because it is content with the status quo. Iran continues to validate the axiom, and the latest announcement from her busy naval leadership is that the Islamic Republic will deploy a naval task force to the Atlantic in the near future as "part of a program to ply international waters."
The development is not surprising, considering that Iran has maintained an antipiracy task force presence off Somalia for nearly three years now, sent a two-ship task force on an expedition to Syria earlier this year, and announced the deployment of a submarine to the Red Sea in June.
Granted, the Iranian navy hasn't precisely bolstered its credibility with a near-simultaneous Pyongyang-style announcement that "enemies are dazed (amazed/surprised) by Iran's huge naval achievements." But an Atlantic deployment will be no particular stretch for the seamanship or technical capabilities of the navy (Iranian civil mariners ply all the world's oceans anyway). Iran can get a three-ship task force – two warships and an auxiliary – over to the Atlantic without exhausting her capacities. The question about this deployment, assuming the political leadership remains constant, is not "if" but "when."
There is another question about the deployment, however, and that is what the waypoints will be. To begin with, Iran will have a choice of going through the Suez Canal versus going around Africa. The task force may very well go around Africa – not because of any real concerns Iran would have about the Suez Canal or the Mediterranean, but because her navy is likely to find a readier welcome in sub-Saharan African ports along the way.
With Syria and Libya in turmoil, Iran's (previous) most-likely port-call stops in the Mediterranean are effectively out of the running. The Mediterranean, while perfectly safe for a non-stop transit, is not a hospitable route for a show-the-flag progress to the Atlantic. On the East coast of Africa, on the other hand, Iran probably has a choice among Kenya and Tanzania, at the very least, and possibly Mozambique and South Africa, as ports of call for refueling, military-relations events, flag-waving, and R&R.
Iran has been cultivating these and other African nations intensively in the last several years: with Kenya, for example, Iran has signed a number of cooperation agreements (including one on maritime cooperation and sea routes) since 2008, and exchanged several high-level visits with Prime Minister Raila Odinga (yes, the socialist radical whom Obama campaigned for in 2006, and who signed an agreement with Islamic leaders before his election to establish shari'a law). With Tanzania Iran has centuries-old ethnic and Shi'a religious ties, but in the full-court press since 2008, Tehran has concluded plenty of new agreements with Dar Es-Salaam, including a defense cooperation agreement signed in 2009. As with neighboring (landlocked) Zimbabwe, Iran plans to buy uranium from Tanzania; it remains to be seen if Iran will establish a helicopter repair "base" in Tanzania like the ongoing project in Zimbabwe, or train Tanzanian security forces under an agreement like that with the Mugabe regime.
With South Africa, Iran has had long and intensifying ties. Tehran's ties with Africa as a whole are extensive and growing. To ensure port call and refueling opportunities, the Iranians are likely to route a naval task force around Africa to get to the Atlantic.
If they cross the Atlantic, which seems likely, they will probably make stops in Venezuela and Cuba at a minimum. To visit Ecuador, another of Iran's BFFs in Latin America, the task force would have to transit the Panama Canal, an expense Tehran won't necessarily want to go to. Another potential stop, however, particularly since it has a maritime "hook," is Nicaragua, where Iran has been eyeing a joint project to develop a port and a cross-isthmus transportation infrastructure (a putative "rival" to the Panama Canal). The two nations professed continued enthusiasm for their interhemispheric romance last month. (For more on Iran in Latin America, see here and here.)
That an Iranian naval task force wouldn't be able to "do" very much, naval-power-projection-wise, isn't actually the point with a deployment like this. An embarked helicopter, a few naval guns, a few anti-ship missiles and torpedoes – these weapon systems don't amount to much in an order-of-battle comparison with the Navy. But the important point is that Iran won't be venturing out into friendless waters. The geopolitical infrastructure is there to make a deployment like this look like any other major naval power's task force deployment: with port calls, politicians, pierside ceremonies, bilateral exercises, and youth outreach activities all along the way.
The path may not lie through the Mediterranean, but it is there. That's what has changed – and from a strategic point of view, it sends an even more powerful message to Europe and North America if Iran approaches the Atlantic by another route.
J.E. Dyer's articles have appeared at Hot Air's Green Room, Commentary's "contentions," Patheos, and The Weekly Standard online.


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The Boston mayoral campaign, marked during the preliminary election by a notable civility among its 12 contestants, has turned caustic in the race's closing weeks, with phone calls floating negative messages against state Representative Martin J. Walsh hitting voters' phones this week.
Those calls, which have been tied to a company with connections to Councilor at Large John R. Connolly, follow at least two negative fliers denouncing Connolly that were sent out by unions that support Walsh.
On Wednesday night, an unknown number of Boston voters received calls from interviewers who identified themselves as employees of BR Interviewing, according to multiple recipients. The calls raised questions about Walsh's progressive credentials and his financial ties to labor unions. They asked recipients whether their votes would be affected if they learned that Walsh had filed legislation hurting the city's finances, without specifying which bills were being discussed.
They also pointed to Walsh's past participation in the South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade, which does not allow groups supporting gay rights to march. Both Walsh and Connolly previously marched in the parade, but have since distanced themselves from the event.
Polling calls to voters are not uncommon in campaigns; frequently they ask voters a combination of positive and negative questions about both candidates involved to test the viability of different campaign messages. What is less typical is a call like this, one that polls on demographics and on strictly negative questions about one candidate, a sign that a campaign may be gearing up for an attack against the opponent.
Connolly would not comment Thursday on whether his campaign had anything to do with the calls. The telephone number that one recipient said appeared on his phone corresponds to a number for Braun Research of Princeton, N.J., a market research firm. The Better Business Bureau lists BR Interviewing as an alternate name for Braun Research. Connolly's campaign finance documents show Braun was paid more than $18,000 in July for polling as a subcontractor for Connolly's campaign.
Braun Research officials did not respond to messages left Thursday.
While refusing comment on the matter Thursday, Connolly instead told the Globe: "We are not running a negative campaign. We are not going to run a negative campaign. And I will never run a negative campaign."
Asked if his team could categorically deny involvement with the calls, Connolly replied: "I don't know anything about the particular phone call you're talking about."
Connolly's campaign struck a similar tone when asked later Thursday about its connection to the calls. Spokeswoman Natasha Perez said in an e-mail, "We have not and will not run a negative campaign. Throughout this campaign there have been numerous polls asking questions about both candidates. Unlike the outside superPACs supporting Representative Walsh, we have not and will not resort to negative campaigning."
Janet Hookailo, a former executive at a quasipublic state development agency who said she volunteered for Councilor Rob Consalvo's campaign during the preliminary and intends to vote for Walsh, said she received a call after 6 p.m. Wednesday.
If she were an undecided voter receiving the call, the Hyde Park resident said, "I would begin to wonder if Marty Walsh was a really bad guy."
"I was interested because the tone was very negative and the way the information was presented was in very negative terms, and it was very detailed," Hookailo said of the call.
The phone calls came the night after a televised debate during which Connolly cited two waves of negative mailers containing inaccurate information sent by the Greater Boston Labor Council, which is backing Walsh. The direct mail pieces derided Connolly's upbringing and mischaracterized the New York school where Connolly taught for two years.
Walsh had denounced the mailers and said he wanted them to stop. During Tuesday's debate, Connolly pointed to the second wave of mailers as evidence that labor unions are not listening to Walsh, who has said that he would be better able to deal with unions because of his experience as a labor leader.
On Thursday, Walsh's campaign spokeswoman said in a statement, "On the day that he held a press conference condemning negative campaigning, a polling company paid over $18,000 by John Connolly's campaign made calls to residents of Boston spreading anonymous negative attacks against Marty Walsh and nothing else. John Connolly is saying one thing, but his polling firm is engaging in the same negative tactics that he is supposedly condemning."
Despite his repeated insistence that he does not favor negative campaigning, Connolly has engaged in negative attacks in the past. While seeking a seat on the City Council in 2007, his campaign sent two rounds of fliers attacking Stephen J. Murphy. Both candidates were running for at-large seats; Murphy had beaten him in the race two years earlier.
The fliers did not indicate who had sent them. But Connolly later admitted to being behind them, prompting Murphy to call him "a documented sneak and a liar." Both won at-large seats, and Murphy is now the body's president.
Other than the stated affiliation with BR Interviewing, Wednesday night's calls bore no other obvious ties to any mayoral campaign.
Josh Dawson, a Back Bay realtor and former Democratic candidate for state representative who is supporting Walsh in the final election, said he received one of the calls shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday. Dawson said he had supported Councilor Michael Ross during the preliminary.
The caller inquired about how he would classify his political leanings, his ethnicity, and his socioeconomic class, Dawson said.
Michael Scully, a West Roxbury resident who said he doesn't "really care for either of them," said he received a similar call Wednesday.
Scully, who said he worked as a legislative assistant on behalf of the "three strikes law" last year, said the call had not swayed him in favor of either Connolly or Walsh. He said he had voted for a different candidate in the preliminary, but declined to say which one.
"I'll probably have to hold my nose and decide," he said.
Jim O'Sullivan can be reached at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @josreports.


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This is the very first post I ever published, other than the one where I first introduced the blog. Ah, memories. I am actually rerunning a lot of my older stuff. Many have not read much of it, I have been crazy busy with work and church/ministry stuff and am also getting all of my posts into Word so I have them always. Thanks for your patience and consideration. It's a bit longish, Back then I thought the more words the merrier.
This is my first "official" blog post, and it's about a topic/person I will probably write about often. It's about my "favorite" pastor, Joel Osteen.
Mr. Osteen's name will probably appear in this blog often since he often says things which make me want to say other things. Hardly a word comes from his mouth that doesn't make me want to respond in some way. Having said that, I also need to say one other thing; I do not hate Joel Osteen. I actually don't like or dislike him or really feel anything emotional toward him at all.
I do, however, certainly love Joel Osteen. God commands me to do that; He tells me I am to love all men and women regardless of their actions. If Joel Osteen was in need and I was able to help, I would help. I certainly love Joel Osteen enough to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him and show him the path to Salvation. I only throw that in this article because, honestly, I have doubts and fears about whether or not Mr. Osteen actually understands the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
So, my intention is not to mount a personal attack on Joel Osteen; I would love to sit with him and discuss it personally. Honestly, though, that is probably not going to happen. Joel Osteen is not going to read this and call and ask me to do lunch anytime soon. I, along with all Christians, do have a responsibility to confront and refute false teachings when we encounter them. That is my intention here, not to attack Joel Osteen personally.
Now that I have that out of the way I can move on to the real topic at hand. If you have read the title of this article, you have realized that the topic of today's thought is the infamous video found all over the web in which Victoria Osteen, Mrs. Osteen, made the rather astounding pronouncement that we worship God and do good not for Him, but for ourselves
Watch the Video here.
In case you cannot watch the video, here is what Mrs. Osteen said in the controversial section of her talk.
"I just want to encourage every one of us to realize that when we obey God, we're not doing it for God — I mean, that's one way to look at it — we're doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we're happy. That the thing that gives Him the greatest joy.
So, I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself, because that's what makes God happy. Amen?"
So, there you have it. This cannot simply be dismissed as a misstep or misquote. The above statement is simply heresy. It is not a slip of the tongue, it is a lie straight from the pit of Hell.
Just to make sure we are on the same sheet of music here, let's take a look at what The Bible says about why we worship, why we obey and what our real reason for existence is in the first place.
God's glory is very important to Him; He has told us this clearly in His Word. In fact, all Creation was created for the simple purpose of giving God Glory, and to showcase His glory. We can see that the physical things of the earth as well as humanity and even the animals were created for His Glory.
Psalm 19:1 [[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.]] The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Isaiah 43:20,21 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Now that we have established that all Creation was created for the express purpose of God's glory, lets look at a few verses which teach us that our obedience and the conduct of our lives are also for God's glory.
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19,20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
So obedience to God as being for God is not simply "one way to look at it" as Mrs. Osteen put it; it is actually the only way to look at it! God did not create us and all the things around us so that we would be happy. God created all of this for His honor and Glory.
If that seems harsh or makes us uncomfortable, we really need to get over it, as we really have no place getting all up in arms about why God created the universe. It is His, after all, to do with as He wishes. But, just because God did all of this for His glory does not mean we are out of luck; God does love us, and He does want us to be happy! The Bible is packed literally from beginning to end with illustrations of how God loves us and wants us to be joy-filled. We can see this from the Book of Genesis when God walked in the Garden of Eden every day with Adam and Eve to the Book of Revelation where God restores everything in the New Heaven and Earth and we dwell in His presence forever. The Book of Psalms is full of King David rejoicing and being happy in the Lord. How much did God love us? John 3:16 teaches us God loved the World so much He gave His only Son to us so that if we believe, we can have everlasting life. 1 John 4 and 5 contain the famous words "God is Love.' Those chapters go on to give perhaps the greatest description of the relationship between God's love for us, our love for others and the keeping of His commandments in all of the Bible.
By now readers may be wondering just what the problem is; after all, that is exactly what Victoria Osteen said: God loves us and wants us to be happy. Taken alone, that is complete, absolutely and wonderfully true. That is also the problem with false teachings; they have just enough truth to seem true and still mask the lie. The issue at hand is who is preeminent, God or man? Does the Creator rule creation or does the Creation rule the creator? Are we man in the image of God or god in the image of Man? The issue is: what is the priority in God's mind? What does He want most? Does He want His honor and glory or does He want our happiness? We know what the Bible teaches about that, as we have shown it. God's greatest desire is His own honor and glory, period.
There is a passage that will clearly illustrate this whole concept in a nutshell.
John 16:22-24 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Many, many preachers and teachers have used that passage, and similar ones to further their lies about how to gain health, wealth and prosperity. They say it is very simple; just invoke the name of Jesus, and God will give us all exactly what we want. Sufficient faith will guarantee success. Some take it so far as to say the power of our spoken words actually activates and propels the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, basically forcing God to act on our desires.
The key, of course, is the prayer in the name of Jesus. We need to look at exactly what that means to properly understand what this passage is telling us. Praying in the name of Jesus is not some tagline or rubber stamp we slap on a prayer to get the answer we want. It is also not some magic incantation that empowers us and compels God to react. God is not some cosmic candy machine, dispensing candy if we put in the correct coin, after all.
Jesus taught us some very important aspects of our prayers; He taught us to pray for the Father's will, in Jesus name and to pray for our desires. It is when we combine those three things that we ask for the correct things. What, then, does it mean to pray in Jesus name? It does not mean asking for our own personal desires and slapping Jesus' name on there for emphasis. What is God's primary will? His honor and Glory. How has he chosen to get that honor and glory? Through His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore to pray in God's will and in Jesus' name means we need to be asking for things which will bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ. Our objectives need to always be God's glory, through Jesus, and not simply the things we want in the flesh.
That is the way God wants us to be happy. Jesus said it in the passage above from John 16. If we worship, obey and ask correctly our joy will be full. In other words, we will be happy! God has a plan, and it is the best plan for us, even if in the moment we are unable to see that it is best. The following best illustrates this concept:
Romans 8:28 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
The opposite perspective to the true Biblical one is not pretty. Actually, it is far worse than that; it is a lie originated and perpetuated by Satan himself. This is the lie spread and taught by so many today, including Joel and Victoria Osteen. Let us take a look at the lie in more detail now.
Our problem is that we do not want what God wants; we want….what we want! We want the things that look good, feel good, and make us feel like we are running the show. We are all sinners by nature and choice, and we were all born that way. It is no surprise then that we are resistant, stubborn and rebellious about submitting to the will of God and wanting the things which would bring Him honor and glory.
Why do I say this is a lie originated and perpetuated by Satan? Let us take a trip back to Genesis Chapter 3. Actually, let's start back in Genesis 2:16,17. There we find the only rule God made for Adam in the Garden of Eden. He was not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One simple rule was all Adam had to follow; everything else was fair game so to speak. Now let's move on to Chapter 3. Here we find Satan's enticement of Eve into eating of the forbidden fruit. Let's take a quick tour through the story. Right away in Verse 1, Satan cast doubt on whether God really told them not to eat that fruit. By the time we get to Verse 4, Satan is just outright calling God a liar. God had said they would die when they ate that fruit; Satan told Eve she would not die. Then occurred the event which changed everything:
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
And so came the fall of man. And we remain fallen to this very day. It is because of our fallen nature and the fact that the penalty for sin is still death that we needed a Savior. Of course, Jesus Christ is that Savior. Since that day 6000 years or so ago, not much has changed really. Satan still tells us the same lies; he still twists God's word around to make us doubt it; he still tells outright lies to convince us the Word of God is false.
The Apostle John captured this thought very well as the Holy Spirit guided him in writing the following:
1 John 2:15-17 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
That passage remains true today; we are easily distracted by the appealing things of the world. We are still susceptible to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Falling prey to those is still the biggest danger out there for both believers and nonbelievers. And unfortunately, that is exactly what Victoria Osteen was teaching thousands of people in that short video. What thousands learned was that true joy and happiness comes not from seeking the things which please God, but from seeking the things which please us.
I certainly do not know the state of Joel and Victoria Osteen's hearts; it is not my place to know or to even guess. Only God knows if they have a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. But I do know that teachings such as theirs can and will prevent thousands from coming to a correct understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the path to Salvation. I pray for them, that if they do not have a relationship with Jesus, that they repent and believe. I pray that they will stop deceiving millions with false teachings such as this one, giving them a fair chance to repent and believe.


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Two weeks ago, I wrote about a Science paper which looked at the effects of punishment in different societies across the world. Through a series of fascinating psychological experiments, the paper showed that the ability to punish freeloaders stabilises cooperative behaviour, bringing out the selfless side in people by making things more difficult for cheaters. The paper also showed that 'antisocial punishment', where the punished seek revenge on the punishers, derails the high levels of cooperation that other fairer forms of punishment help to entrench.
Now a new study published in that other minor journal Nature adds another twist to the story. In it, Anna Dreber, Martin Nowak and colleagues from Harvard University confirm that groups of people are indeed more likely to cooperate if they can dole out punishment, but they also reap smaller rewards. In Dreber's experiments, the groups that left with the highest payoffs were those that shunned punishment completely. It's a conclusion best summed up by the stark and simple title of their paper: "Winners don't punish."
Dreber revealed the dark side of punishment by modifying one of the classic experiments of game theory - the Prisoner's Dilemma
. Inspired by the plight of separately interrogated prisoners, the game pits two players who have a choice to cooperate or defect. For each 'prisoner', the best choice no matter what his partner does is to defect, but if they both defect, their outcomes are far poorer than if they had both cooperated - hence the dilemma.
The artificial scenario represents many real-world choices where cooperation is good for a group but cheating is best for the individual. When defection presents such stark benefits, evolutionary theory predicts that it should be commonplace unless some force can maintain cooperation. Recently, costly punishment - where an individual can suffer slightly to punish a cheater - has been mooted as such as force, because people avoid cheating for fear of reprisals.
A further dilemma
To test this idea, Dreber extended the Prisoner's Dilemma so that on every turn, players could punish as well as cooperate or defect. She recruited 104 local college students to play anonymously against each other. They were given a set of virtual tokens, informed about their options in neutral language and asked to make their moves together. Once played, the results were tallied and the choices revealed. The games went on for different times but players knew that every round had a one in four chance of being the last one. At the end of each game, each player was paid a dime for every remaining point.
In one game (T1), cooperation meant paying 1 token for the other player to receive 2, defection meant taking 1 token from the other player and adding it to your pot, and punishment meant paying 1 unit to fine the other person 4. The second game (T2) was exactly the same, except that cooperation was more valuable, with the beneficiaries receiving 3 tokens instead of 2. The table on the right shows what happens for different combinations of choices. Alongside T1 and T2, Dreber also ran two control experiments (C1 and C2) where players could only cooperate or defect. Punishment wasn't an option.
As the experiments unfolded, a number of different strategies became apparent. Some games were all-out cooperation (a). In others, one player defected but cooperation was restored when the other player either turned the other cheek (d) or defected in retaliation (c). In the face of forgiveness or the threat of mutual loss, the original defector decided to play fair again.
When punishment was played, it usually didn't restore cooperation. In some cases, the rebuked player simply carried on defecting only to be punished even further (b). When a punished player retaliated in kind (the 'antisocial punishment' studied in the earlier post), the game ended in mutually assured destruction (e). Finally, the ability to punish allowed irrational individuals to inflict harm on the undeserving with unprovoked pre-emptive strikes that had disastrous results for cooperation (g).
Even though actually taking punitive measures proved to be an anathema to teamwork, the option to punish did increase the overall levels of cooperation. In the two games that allowed punishment, T1 and T2, players chose to cooperate in 52% and 60% of their moves, but they only did so in 21% and 43% of the moves in the punishment-free control games, C1 and C2.
That seems like a good case for punishment, but not so. Dreber found no difference between the average takings in the two setups that included punishment (T1 and T2) and the two that didn't (C1 and C2). As far as the groups were concerned, the ability to punish bore no benefits. At an individual level, things were even worse, for the players who came away with the least money were also those who meted out punishment most frequently. In the T1 game, for example, the five players who ended up richest were those who never punished their opponents (see graphs below; g = T1; h= T2).
You might suspect that these winners were just lucky and only faced opponents who always cooperated and never deserved punishment. But that wasn't the case - their opponents occasionally defected too and the one strategic choice that set the winners apart from the losers was how they dealt with a defection. Simply put, losers chose to punish while winners opted for a 'tit-for-tat' strategy and defected themselves. Winners, it seems, really don't punish.
The origins of punishment
The Science paper by Hermann et al actually found similar patterns In it, players from 16 cities showed more cooperative behaviour when they were allowed to punish their colleagues than when they weren't. But the supplemental data reveal that 13 of these groups actually ended up with lower average earnings in the games that involved punishment than those that did not. Only 3 groups netted higher payoffs and Dreber suspects that the differences were not statistically significant. She said, "I believe that our results agree with those of Hermann et al.: punishment leads to more cooperation, but not higher payoffs."
The results are a blow for the notion that costly punishment was critical for the evolution of human cooperation, for people who resort to punishment suffer for it. Instead, the authors suggest that costly punishment may have evolved for other reasons, like establishing pecking orders or allowing stronger members of a group to dominate weaker ones through coercion.
This is the second time I've written about a paper from Martin Nowak's research group and both papers had two things in remarkably clear and witty language. Though the new study is published in a journal that can often be incomprehensible even to hardcore scientists, it is replete with, economical turns of phrase and lay language - anyone could pick it up and get the point.
Such a feat is both rare and applaudable. To be fair, the subject matter lends itself somewhat to more pithy writing but I have seen other papers in a similar field that still managed to be far more unintelligible than this one. Dreber, Nowak and her co-authors should be commended for their efforts. Their own conclusion to the paper sums up the research better than I ever could:
"People engage in conflicts and know that conflicts can carry costs. Costly punishment serves to escalate conflicts, not to moderate them. [It] might force people to submit, but not to cooperate... Winners do not use costly punishment, whereas losers punish and perish."
Reference:Dreber, A., Rand, D.G., Fudenberg, D., Nowak, M.A. (2008). Winners don't punish. Nature, 452(7185), 348-351. DOI: 10.1038/nature06723


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If You'd Been Born 50 Years Earlier, Where Would You Have Worked?
On Fridays, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else's reply, whatever you want. On to this week's topics of discussion...
1. If you'd been born 50 years earlier, what would you have done for work?
2. Stacy Conradt is working on her annual list of the most interesting, bizarre, or otherwise noteworthy college courses offered this fall. If you're in college, let us know if your school has anything that should make the cut. For everyone else, what's the weirdest class you ever took?
3. What's a pie flavor you think should be more popular? If you'd like to invent your own flavor for this question, have at it.
4. You know the deal with #4. Got a question for the group? Use this slot to ask it. Or if you have a question suggestion for me, fire it over via Twitter @EnglishJason. Enjoy the weekend!
[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts.]


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LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
Looking to keep track of all the various projects in development? Click here to visit our newly branded "Devwatch" section. There visitors can view our listings by network, genre, studio and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (ABC Family) - The eight-episode second half of the show's inaugural run is set to bow on Monday, March 6 at 9:00/8:00c. (Thanks to TV Guide's "Ask Ausiello" column for the tip!)
THE BOOK OF DANIEL (NBC) - Two Nexstar Broadcasting Group-owned NBC affiliates - KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas, and WTWO-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana - have opted not to air tomorrow's launch of the freshman drama. A posting on the former's web site states: "After careful consideration, watching the program and most importantly listening to our viewers and engaging them in dialogue, we have decided not to air the NBC program The book of Daniel this Friday night. We appreciate hearing from so many of our viewers who expressed their heartfelt opinions on both sides of the issue. You can watch the Book of Daniel on KWBF-TV, WB 42 right here in Central Arkansas. It will air Friday, January 6th at 8pm."
WTWO's web site also features a statement from the station's general manager Duane Lammers that reads: "Our relationship with NBC always provided for the right to reject programming. I am reaffirming that right to let them know I will not allow them to make unilateral decisions affecting our viewers. Second, I want to draw attention to the worst offenders of indecency on television ... the cable industry, which faces no decency regulations, nor a license renewal. If my action causes people in our community to pay more attention to what they watch on television, I have accomplished my mission." Said developments come as the Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Assocation continues to urge stations and advertisers to boycott the show.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING (Fox Reality, New!) - The FOX cable sibling has greenlighted production on a two-part special in which one player sells everything he owns in order to risk his net worth on one spin of a Las Vegas roulette wheel. Said project, which is set up at reality house LMNO, will air as a two-hour event over two weeks in April. LMNO's Eric Schotz and Bill Paolantonio ("Boot Camp") then will serve as executive producers of the special, casting of which is currently underway. As for specifics, the first hour will introduce viewers to the contestant and his or her friends and family as well as feature a psychologist who will confirm the player isn't clinically insane. The latter hour then will air live as the contestant takes the big spin from a Las Vegas casino. "Nothing" had previously been in the works at NBC, with the network giving the project a cast-contingent pilot order in July of 2004 (read the story).
FUTURAMA (FOX) - Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's Emmy-winning animated series may be the latest to receive a "Family Guy"-esque revival as talks are said to have begun at 20th Century Fox Television about resuming production on a limited number of episodes. Much like "Guy," "Futurama" has done strong numbers in DVD sales and late-night airings on Cartoon Network. Most recently, Comedy Central signed on to take over the show's off-network run beginning in 2008. As for the show's possible resurrection, 20th has yet to comment on any developments.
THE GREG BEHRENDT SHOW (Syndication) - Sony Pictures Television has cleared the talk show in several additional markets, including WDIV in Detroit and KTVK in Phoenix as well as others in the Post-Newsweek, Belo, Hubbard, Sinclair, Weigel and Raycom station groups. Prior to the pick-ups, "Greg" had already been cleared on all 26 Tribune stations, which reach about 30% of the country.
IN PLAIN SIGHT (USA, New!) - Producer Paul Stupin ("Beautiful People"), writer David Maples ("Huff") and director Mark Piznarski ("Veronica Mars") are set to team for a new drama project at the cable channel about a no-nonsense female federal marshal who works in the witness protection branch of the government even though her friends and family are led to believe she is a glorified meter maid. USA has given a cast-contingent, 90-minute pilot order to the NBC Universal Television-based project, with Piznarski directing from a script by Maples. Stupin then will serve as an executive producer with Maples as a co-executive producer. As for plot specifics, "Sight" will track Mary Shannon, said federal marshal, as she balances her work life and the demands of her own dysfunctional family. "Sight" is one of three hours in the hopper for a potential series order at the network - the others being Steve Franks' "Psyche," about a fake psychic detective (James Roday) and David Breckman and Ross Abrash's "Underfunded," about a low-rent Canadian secret service outfit. Said hours are designed to fill the void left by "Kojak," which won't be returning for a second season.
MANCHILD (Showtime) - Feature writer Michael Traeger ("The Moguls") and "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star have come aboard the long-in-the-works U.S. version of the BBC hit of the same name - about a group of men in their late 40s, all of whom were enduring some sort of midlife crisis. Traeger will write the pilot script of the Sony Pictures Television-based half-hour as well as executive produce with Star. The pay channel however hasn't greenlighted production on the pilot.
MRS. HARRIS/REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER (HBO) - The fourth season of "Real Time With Bill Maher" is set to kick off on Friday, February 17 at 11:00/10:00c, according to the network's recently released February schedule. Meanwhile, the pay channel has confirmed the Annette Bening/Ben Kingsley-led original movie "Mrs. Harris" will premiere Saturday, February 25 at 8:00/7:00c. A "making-of" special is also set to run on Wednesday, February 1 at 9:45/8:45c.
PARTY/PARTY (Bravo) - The cable channel has quietly banished the freshman series to the midnight/11:00c slot on Tuesday nights. Said change actually came just two weeks into its run (which began on December 6), where it originally aired at 9:00/8:00c as a lead-in to "Queer Eye."
RENO 911 (Comedy Central) - The popular Comedy Central series is making the transition to the big screen as production is set to begin on January 23 on "Reno 911!: Miami." The feature will track the Reno officers as they visit a national police convention in Miami Beach at the height of spring break. Co-creator Robert Ben Garant is directing the 20th Century Fox/Paramount-based film from a script co-written by himself and fellow co-creators Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney. Garant, Lennon and Kenney as well as Niecy Nash, Mary Birdsong, Cedric Yarbrough, Carlos Alazraqui and Wendi McLendon-Covey will all reprise their small screen roles. No release date target was mentioned.
THE RON CLARK STORY (TNT) - A spokesman for the cable channel has confirmed the Matthew Perry-led telefilm, originally slated for January 22, has been postponed until a date later in 2006.
STUDIO 7 ON THE SUNSET STRIP (NBC) - Steven Weber ("The D.A.") reportedly has been cast in the lead role of the Aaron Sorkin-led drama project, about the lives of those that work on a long-running "Saturday Night Live"-esque sketch-comedy show based in Los Angeles. Said development comes after both Matthew Perry ("Friends") and Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing") passed on the role. No other details were given. (Again, thanks to TV Guide's "Ask Ausiello" column for the tip!)
UNTITLED CHRIS PAPPAS/MIKE BERNIER PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Feature producer Kevin Misher ("The Interpreter") has inked a one-year, first-look deal with Touchstone Television. The pact gives the studio first crack at Misher's TV development, which already includes an untitled half-hour from writers Chris Pappas and Mike Bernier about two male best friends, one of whom is getting married and the other getting divorced. Misher will serve as a non-writing executive produce on the project, which has a script commitment from ABC.
UNTITLED DAVE CAPLAN PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Writer/producer Dave Caplan ("The George Lopez Show") is set to team with Doug Liman and David Bartis's NBC Universal Television-based Hypnotic banner for a new offbeat comedy about a pair of brothers who take up bounty hunting - using kung fu rather than firearms - to help take care of their mom and her restaurant. Caplan will pen the pilot script to the half-hour as well as executive produce with Liman and Bartis.
UNTITLED VIDAL SISTERS PROJECT (ABC) - Laura Kightlinger ("Will & Grace") has signed on to write the script to the half-hour comedy pilot, about an interracial family of three adult sisters (Lisa, Christina and Tanya Vidal) and their relatives. Don Reo had previously been attached to pen the script however the writer/producer has since moved on to an untitled half-hour at NBC from executive producer Dick Wolf (read the story). Kightlinger then will also serve as an executive producer along with George Lopez and his wife, Ann.
VANISHED (FOX) - Writer/producer Josh Berman, creator of the network's short-lived "Killer Instinct," has been given the green light to produce a pilot as well as two additional scripts for the 20th Century Fox Television-based project, which chronicles the disappearance of a senator's wife over the course of the season. FOX had previously given "Vanished" a put pilot commitment (read the story), making the pilot order not much of a surprise. Berman will pen the pilot script as well as executive produce the hour.
WIFE SWAP (ABC) - Executive producer Michael Davies ("Wife Swap") and his company Embassy Row have inked a three-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. The pact calls for Davies to develop both unscripted and scripted programming for the studio. It's understood several new projects are already in the works, most of which are being targeted for GSN (which is co-owned by Sony and Liberty Media). Said network currently carries repeats of two Davies-produced shows: ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and Comedy Central's "Win Ben Stein's Money." Sony will also come aboard to co-produce Davies' previously announced projects in development, including a special for CBS starring magician Keith Barry and a game show for Comedy Central with "Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jennings. The deal also won't affect Davies' existing first-look pact with ABC, which gives the Alphabet first crack at any of his primetime development.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and TV Guide


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Dog of War: Meet 'Call of Duty's' new barkout star
LOS ANGELES (AP) — His name is Riley.
Unlike his squad mates in the next installment of the rabidly popular "Call of Duty" series, he's not adept at sniping enemy combatants or piloting drones. He can't even pick up a gun.
"Call of Duty: Ghosts" isn't due until November, but Riley has already become the breakout star of the military shoot-'em-up. He even has an unofficial Twitter account — @CollarDuty.
Yup, Riley is a dog, and he's one of the largest and most popular technological leaps forward in the next generation of "Call of Duty." After footage released earlier this year revealed that "Ghosts" would feature a four-legged soldier, the Internet uniformly wagged its tail in anticipation. The mere tease of a canine character inspired fan art, doggy cosplay and the unofficial Twitter account, which has attracted over 28,000 followers.
"Ghosts" executive producer Mark Rubin said during a recent visit to developer Infinity Ward's offices that the German Shepherd originated as an idea on a notecard during a brainstorming session. The developers didn't actually know anything about military service dogs, just that unleashing one on the Activision Blizzard Inc. franchise was "a cool idea."
"Call of Duty" fans drooled over Riley again last month when a new trailer released for "Ghosts" featured him lunging at a helicopter, taking a bite out of the human pilot and bringing the chopper whirling down to the ground. As Riley's fame unexpectedly surged online, Rubin said the developers' inclination was to let the game go to the dog.
"There was a risk of shoehorning the dog into scenes where he wasn't originally going to be," he said. "Fortunately, that only lasted for a few weeks and everybody got back to concentrating on making the game. It's great that Riley is so popular, but let's focus on the game. Let's have Riley make sense and not just put him in space or in a scuba suit."
While canine companions have been featured in many games — from "Fable II" to "Grand Theft Auto V" — the developers of "Ghosts" set out to create more than another best friend. They wanted a hero, a dog that would not only assist players but could be commanded at certain points throughout both the single- and multi-player modes.
In the game, Riley is outfitted with several gadgets based on technology employed by his real-world counterparts. For players, Riley's battlefield perspective can be glimpsed through a camera mounted to the back of his tactical suit, and he can receive orders, such as creating distractions or taking down enemies, issued from afar by players.
To make Riley as believable as possible, the gamemakers first met with a retired Navy SEAL and his former military service dog to learn more about how soldiers and hounds work together. They later cast a pair of pooches, a German Shepherd named Ruger and a smaller Belgian Malinois called Rico, to be digitally captured for the game.
"We had several mo-cap (motion-capture) shoots, and some of them we just had to write off as learning experiences," said "Ghosts" lead animator Zach Volker, who noted that if players look close enough, they'll be able to spot the differences between the two dogs portraying Riley. "Once we got a better idea of how to work with the dogs, we all became more efficient."
Ruger and Rico were outfitted with custom motion-capture gear made from form-fitting suits intended for dogs with skin conditions. Neversoft mo-cap supervisor Kristina Adelmeyer said they originally wore special booties on their paws so dozens of cameras could film their range of motion. However, they didn't act natural in their fancy footwear. "We ended up using these pieces of tape that the mo-cap system could see as markers," said Adelmeyer.
Rico provided the biting and tackling, while Ruger performed the movements. Chris Connell, Ruger's trainer, said during a demonstration of his abilities at Neversoft earlier this month that the biggest challenge for the Schutzhund competition champion — that's German for "protection dog" — was playing make-believe.
"In this environment, we didn't have trees or grass," said Connell. "It was like, 'OK, Ruger. Pretend we're in a desert area and act accordingly.' Ruger is like, 'Dude, this is a studio with mats like people do exercises on at the gym, and there's white lines on the ground.' Just trying to get him to act as if it was a real environment was the hardest thing."
The inclusion of a dog in the violent, mature series begs the question: Will "Ghosts" have an "Old Yeller" moment?
"Everybody thinks we're going to kill the dog," said Rubin. "Maybe that's the expected thing we would do, so maybe it's not what we'll do? We'll see. People around here didn't know, and they had that same sentiment: 'We better not kill the dog.' The emotional investment for the dog here has been just as strong as what's happening out in the public."


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Get Kerala packages from Tirupati to Cochin here. Tirupati is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The holy town of Tirupati is one amongst the 8 most scared places of Lord Mahavishnu and is highly revered, glorified and worshiped. A temple town, Tirupati is gods abode. The Sri Venkateshwara temple is a must visit in Tirupati and is most often what Tirupati is identified with. With Akasaganga Teertham, and Sri Veda Narayanaswami Temple as the other famous temples of Tirupati, the nearby areas are famous for their beauty and serenity. The area is an essential in the list of pilgrimages and is defined by the religious and spiritual significance it accounts for. The same has made Tirupati a popular tourist spot and perhaps this is where Andhra Pradesh receives its most popular and vibrant side as a religious destination. People from Tirupati like to visit Cochin in winters time.
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|✴ Tirupati - Cochin - Kerala - Cochin - Tirupati ✴
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text:
Meant to provoke curiosity, NamelessleTTer is a new project in which people from all horizons leave personalized notes or bookmarks in random books with the goal of seeing other readers discover them. The nameless creators of NamelessleTTer ask that your unattributed note is as well-suited and clever as possible, like this McDonald's Korea receipt left in an edition of Zagat 2009 or the Get Out of Jail Free" card put between the pages of "Escape From Alcatraz."
Similar to PostSecret, NamelessleTTer is an ongoing collaborative art project that encourages interaction through anonymity. While the submissions are displayed in an online forum, the goal is to encourage people to visit libraries and bookstores in hopes of discovering one of these quirky bookmarks, and to bring a new and exciting aspect to book reading in a world that is becoming increasingly digital. Give it a try, leave a little surprise in your favorite book or join the community and see if you can't find the latest letter.


text:
New version! - Squeez is an extremely fast program for compressing your files and supports 13 different compression algorithms. Squeez reads and writes files in following formats: SQX, ZIP, ARJ, LZH, RAR, CAB, GZIP, TAR, UUE, ACE, JAR, BZIP and 7Z - everything without relying on additional programs!
One single mouse click is enough, so that Squeez compresses one or several files and attaches them to a new eMail. Squeez can add recovery data to archives - that can protect an archive against damaged data mediums. Make self extracting archives (SFX) to distribute them or extract them on another computer.
Operating Systems
Windows 95/98/98SE, Windows ME
Windows NT 4/2000/XP/2003/Vista
Windows XP/2003/Vista x64 Edition
Squeez x64 for Windows XP x64
Squeez is available as real native edition for Windows XP x64 and offers full explorer integration. The licence is valid for both versions, no additional licence must be purchased for Squeez x64
About Squeez x64
Because there is no 64 bit version of Office 2003 at the moment, Squeez x64 contains no Outlook Addin. To use the AddIn under Windows XP x64, Squeez 32 bit must be installed as well. 32 and 64 bit are installed to different folders.
For compatibility with 32 bit applications, installation of the 32 bit version is recommended. 64 bit modules can't use 32 bit parts and vice versa.
Not yet implemented:
Viewing and extracting ACE archives
Quick View for Quicktime and RealMedia.
Squeez - 64bit software
Current Version: 5.63.5680
Date: 2009-03-21
Recommended: 7-Zip 64bit version


text:
A crisis of confidence
Awareness of threats is not the same as preparation to deal with them. More than three-quarters (76%) of surveyed board members believe their companies would respond effectively if a crisis struck tomorrow. But less than half (49%) of their companies have taken steps to be truly crisis-ready.


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The Terms and Conditions of Service are part of the UPS shipping contract and contain the general terms and conditions under which UPS is engaged in the transportation of packages in its own territory and jointly through interchange with its affiliates.
UPS tracking solutions show the progress of your shipment every step of the way, across town or around the world.
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text:
(erythema infectiosum, parvovirus B19 infections)
South Dakota Department of Health
Office of Disease Prevention Services - 605-773-3737 — (1-800-592-1861 in South Dakota only)
This material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute
for medical care. We are not able to answer personal medical questions. Please see your
health care provider concerning appropriate care, treatment or other medical advice.
What is fifth disease?
Fifth disease is a viral infection which often affects red blood cells. It is caused by a human parvovirus (B19). For many years, fifth disease was viewed as an unimportant rash illness of children. Recently, studies have shown that the virus may be responsible for serious complications in certain individuals.
Who gets fifth disease?
Anyone can be infected, but the disease seems to occur more often in elementary school-age children.
How is the virus spread?
The virus is spread by exposure to airborne droplets from the nose and throat of infected people.
What are the symptoms and when do they appear?
One to two weeks after exposure, some children will experience a low grade fever and tiredness. By the third week, a red rash generally appears on the cheeks giving a slapped face appearance. The rash may then extend to the body and tends to fade and reappear. Sometimes, the rash is lacy in appearance and may be itchy. Some children may have vague signs of illness or no symptoms at all.
When and for how long is a person able to spread the disease?
People with fifth disease appear to be contagious during the week prior to the appearance of the rash. By the time the rash is evident, the person is probably beyond the contagious period.
How is fifth disease diagnosed?
In most cases, the disease is diagnosed based on the appearance of typical symptoms. A specific blood test to confirm the diagnosis has recently been developed but is not widely available.
Does past infection with the virus make a person immune?
It is thought that people who have been previously infected acquire long-term or lifelong immunity. Studies have shown that approximately 50 percent of adults are immune to parvovirus B19.
What is the treatment?
At this time, there is no specific treatment.
What are the complications associated with fifth disease?
While most women infected during pregnancy will not be affected, some studies have shown that parvovirus B19 may infect the fetus and increase the risk of miscarriage within the first 18 weeks of pregnancy. In people with chronic red blood cell disorders, such as sickle-cell disease, infection may result in severe anemia. Infection has also been associated with arthritis in adults.
What can be done to prevent the spread of fifth disease?
Measures to effectively control fifth disease have not been developed yet. During outbreaks in schools, pregnant school employees and people with chronic red blood cell disorders should consult their physician for advice.
Where can I call for additional information regarding fifth disease and pregnancy?
In addition to your doctor, information can be obtained from the South Dakota Department of Health at 1-800-592-1861.