text:
So, I think you were in the newspaper today," Lorne Michaels quipped, peering at Katherine Pope over the table at Orso, an Italian restaurant in midtown Manhattan. It was a year ago, the evening of November 14, and Michaels, theSaturday Night Live30 Rock
producer, was having dinner with Pope, who for 17 months had been heading up Universal Media Studios, the maker of his show .
Michaels was wryly referring to what people at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, corporate headquarters of NBC/Universal, had been tittering about all day: an item in Page Six, the New York Post's scabrous gossip column, titled " `Black Widow' Effect at NBC." In it, pretty much all the woes of NBC, whose autumn slate of shows had crashed and burned, had been laid at Katherine Pope's 36-year-old feet. "They call her the black widow. Every program she touches turns to death," an unnamed network source was quoted as saying. It was a bizarre item—clumsy is the word Pope now uses to describe it—in that the quotes offered only high praise for Ben Silverman, the 38-year-old head of NBC Entertainment responsible for the schedule that included critically panned and audience-rejected shows such as Knight Rider, Kath & Kim, and My Own Worst Enemy. Regardless of who was to blame for all the dogs on NBC's lineup, it was clear to Pope from reading the item that she wouldn't have a job for long.
Pope, who describes herself as the A-student type, felt physically ill at the idea of getting fired. But Michaels knew where her talents and passions lay: getting her hands dirty producing television shows, not maneuvering the toxic politics of a once-great broadcast network fallen on hard times. "Don't you ever look around the conference room table and say to yourself, One of these things is not like the other?" Michaels asked Pope. "You don't fit in there, and everyone can see it but you."
More From ELLE
Three weeks later, Pope deduced that indeed her time was up, that tomorrow she'd be invited into an office where a dour HR representative would be sitting, and just like that, her decadelong career at NBC would be over. So at three in the afternoon the day before, she picked up the phone and called her husband, Richard. "Meet me somewhere," she said. "I need to get drunk." Drunk she got, and her husband took her home, where she wept for a long time. She slept for a couple hours, then threw on a dress so that she could attend the Hollywood Reporter's annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, where she was to be honored as one of the town's most powerful execs, an honor that didn't really alter the fact that it was the worst 48 hours of her professional life.
Eight months later, Pope is welcoming me into her temporary office on the Fox lot near Century City, on the west side of Los Angeles. The lot now takes up just a fraction of the real estate of the historic 20th Century Fox back lot, but it is still massive enough to get lost on, which I do, trying to locate Pope's office in Building 41 on a scorching late-summer morning. Finally, I'm pointed in the right direction by one of the attractive clutch of young women who've assembled around the actor Jason Segel to watch him as he smokes a cigarette while perched atop a golf cart outside a soundstage.
"I can't believe you lost your bag," Pope says, truly mournful, as if it were not only socks and underwear that had been pilfered on my flight from JFK, but a kidney destined for the gut of a sick child. Then she notices that the brisk walk has left me in an Albert Brooks Broadcast News flop sweat even though it's meat-locker cold in her office. She quickly arranges a cup of water, hustles over to her office door, sticks out her head, and fiddles with something on the wall. "Let me make it colder," she says. "It couldn't be easier. It's just a little button!"
Pope is once again on the radar, possessing the same kind of juice, but not an ounce of the acid, of TV and film female execs real and imagined (Faye Dunaway's ruthless programmer in Network; the late Dawn "the Tank" Steel, the head of Columbia Pictures from 1987 to 1989). Pope's style is more that of legendary and legendarily warm former studio chief Sherry Lansing, and Pope has made her reputation in Hollywood from her strong—some might say almost familial—relationships with writers, some undoubtedly sweaty, many prickly, neurotic, and problem-plagued. "I see in Katherine this kind of maternal instinct to take care of people, which comes out in dealing with writers," says Heroes creator Tim Kring. "It's all about her long-standing respect for writers. On a number of occasions, she's counseled me and talked me off ledges when I've been pissed about certain things. I absolutely see that quality in her."
After getting canned from NBC, Pope in July became the head of television for Peter Chernin's brand-new production company, so new that its offices overlooking the Pacific in Santa Monica are still under construction and its name—Chernin Entertainment—seems just a placeholder. Peter Chernin is the 58-year-old guy who until his retirement in June was considered the power behind the throne of Rupert Murdoch's vast media empire. He had been the steady hand guiding Murdoch's non-newspaper entities—20th Century Fox studios and the Fox Network—for 13 years. It's common when top executives leave or are booted from big entertainment jobs that their employers give them token production deals—Hollywood's equivalent of the gold watch—that provide them with an office, e-mail, and a phone, essentially a way to go out with some dignity. Chernin's is no such deal. BusinessWeek reported on the gold-plated retirement package he'd negotiated with Murdoch before signing his last contract in 2004: For starters, he'd get use of the company jet. And for six years, 20th Century Fox would buy at least two feature films from a Chernin company. Also—this is where Pope comes in—the Fox Network would produce three of the company's television series a year or else pay stiff penalties. Pope's job sounds deceptively simple—to locate, develop, and produce at the very least three shows a year—but, with trademark candor, she admits it's pretty scary. "Peter and I have talked a lot about the idea that `just because you can, doesn't mean you should,' " she says.
What they're aiming for is something they're calling "creatively adventurous" programming. Past examples of this might include Lost, Heroes, and even 30 Rock, because they were all approaches to their genres of which we hadn't seen the likes before.
"In broadcast TV today, you have to do something really bold to win. Networks can't play for the double. You have to constantly be swinging for the fences, and if you end up striking out, fine, because you might get it the next time," she says.
Here's what you first notice about Pope. She talks a lot, but because she's funny and smart, you're not praying for her to stop. She claims that some of the writers she's worked with might feel otherwise, thanks to her habit of providing tons of script notes. "We'd be on the sixth draft of an episode," she says, of working on Heroes, "and I'd be calling back with three tiny notes. I would say to the writers, `You're lucky. You only have to visit me. I have to live with me.' " And when Pope talks, she also makes a variety of gestures; you suspect that if her desk were located in a sandbox, by the end of a two-hour meeting she'd have constructed a mini Versailles.
But honestly, the absolute first thing you notice about her is how pretty she is. Tall, porcelain skinned, with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, she'd be played by Jennifer Connelly in the movie, and then everybody who knows her would plausibly claim that the real Pope is prettier. She manages to be businessy, but in black patent leather Jimmy Choo pumps. She says she wears head-to-toe black every day, less as a style statement and more for the George Jetson–like utility of not having to think about how to dress. "If I could wear a uniform, I would," she says.
"She's beautiful, but she doesn't use that at all to get her anywhere," says Heroes star and occasional martini-sipping partner Ali Larter. "It's really hard to find women [in Hollywood] like Katherine who don't have that edge or seem to want to take you down."
It's for this reason that it's harder to picture Pope playing the vamp in the various NBC dramas she's been party to than it is to see her as one of those resourceful Victorian novel heroines, stalking the cliffs. It should be noted that her first great obsession was with Little Women and Jo March, the literary tomboy whose passionate streak, and her hot temper and inability to hold her tongue, were the qualities that made readers fall in love with her and also got her into trouble.
Pope grew up in Glencoe, Illinois, an upper-middle-class suburb of Chicago known as location central for John Hughes' movies, notably Sixteen Candles. In high school, she was actually an extra on Uncle Buck. "I was more Ally Sheedy than Molly Ringwald," she says. "I was angsty, reading poetry and philosophy, but no, I wasn't cutting myself and I did wash." This would seem to explain the unhappy year she spent in Connecticut at Miss Porter's, the finishing school that famously graduated Jackie Kennedy. "I stuck out," she says. "It was all these girls trying to be perfect every moment of the day, and the girls who had been there for four years all had eating disorders, you know?"
Because she wasn't allowed to watch TV on weeknights, she read voraciously, an activity encouraged by her parents, who set up a tab at a local bookstore so that she and her two older sisters could stroll out with any book they liked. Without even knowing it, she learned the principles of speed-reading: Today, when she's on a five-hour coast-to-coast flight, she'll take two books and some scripts and finish them all. Perhaps because of this, she finds it tricky to read aloud to her daughter, Willa, now five. "I look at the whole paragraph and I know what it says," she explains. "But if I have to break it down word for word, then I sort of stumble a bit."
During her senior year at Sarah Lawrence, she interned at ABC News and upon graduation landed a job on Turning Point, the ABC news magazine show, which a year later was canceled. Here she learned a lesson she'd hold onto—closer to the sacred teachings of Elmo than anything Sun Tzu wrote.
"When Turning Point got canceled, all those people at the lowest rung with me scattered everywhere. So people who I had gotten along with well were suddenly working in all these other places. I thought, Well, if everyone I come in contact with might potentially work somewhere else I want to work, maybe I should just be nice to everybody. It was never a question of it's him or me. I felt that we could pull one another up."
Another lesson Pope learned about herself from those months at ABC and then a stint at CBS News was that when there was a choice between watching Frontline or Dawson's Creek, Joey and Pacey would always beat the Hutus and Tutsis. Dinner plans were meticulously scheduled to avoid missing The X-Files. So she left New York for California to seek her fortune in entertainment programming and broke it off with her boyfriend (and future husband) Richard Robbins, who stayed back east to work on documentaries for Peter Jennings. She took all the meetings she could, though the valets at the talent agency ICM refused to park the huge 1975 red pickup she'd borrowed for the summer. She worked at several places, including VH-1, and then landed at the NBC mother ship in Burbank, where the decisions had been made to air the few shows that had passed her parents' muster: The Cosby Show, Hill Street Blues, Family Ties, St. Elsewhere. She went through the brutal yearlong application process to become an NBC Associate, a member of the company's young-executive training program, and in December 1999, she officially began her career there. "I always joke that I feel like I got into silent movies after the talkies had started," Pope says.
She is referring to the industry post–Brandon Tartikoff. In 1980, Tartikoff, at 31, had become the youngest-ever president of NBC Entertainment. And in his decade in that job, he used his gut to make many decisions—like resisting the temptation to quickly cancel ratings laggards such as Cheers and L.A. Law because they were good shows—guessing that viewers would eventually discover what he already knew. His taste was diverse—be it the "mass" of The A-Team or the "class" of St. Elsewhere. He was also willing to risk missing spectacularly, as he did with the laughable sci-fi series Manimal. But experimentation, like the "MTV Cops" idea he scrawled on a napkin that eventually became Miami Vice, often paid huge dividends.
In 1997, Tartikoff died at age 48 of cancer, and though he retired from the network in 1991, his absence could still very much be felt in Burbank, which had absorbed into its DNA the feeling of being at the top for 15 years but was about to start recognizing the agony of defeat. Frankly, NBC seemed unmoored without him. In just over two years' time, NBC dispatched Warren Littlefield, Tartikoff's onetime deputy; hired Garth Ancier, the guy who put Dawson's Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the WB network; and then fired Ancier.
Into this environment barreled young Pope, who has never lacked opinions. After chiming up in a few meetings with creatives, she was taken aside by a senior executive; not only were comments from such a junior exec unwelcome, that nodding thing she had a tendency to do in meetings? That should stop too. "Why would a writer who's been doing this his entire life want to hear some kid who's been in the business five minutes saying, `Yeah, that didn't work either'?" she says. She characterizes her then boss, studio president Ted Harbert, as "Great! And a workaholic on a psycho level." After she asked him to stop calling her at home after 10, she'd often pick up the phone and hear him bellowing, "It's 9:59! It's 9:59!"
But Pope kept up with him, arriving at the office at 7 a.m. to read scripts and get his undivided attention. After work, she'd go to whichever of the 14 comedy pilots the studio was shooting, stay until 4 a.m., crash for three hours, and then head back to the office. Her speed-reading came in handy, and over the years she was shocked at how many executives would try to fake their way through meetings with writers whose scripts they hadn't bothered reading. "It sounds ridiculous, but being familiar with somebody's work sets you apart," she says.
Naturally, Pope ascended. Ancier's replacement, Jeff Zucker, then the Today show's 36-year-old executive producer, became Entertainment president and made Pope his No. 2 in drama development. She worked on a series she absolutely adored—Boomtown—an innovative show that told the story of a crime from all perspectives: cop, criminal, victim. Critics liked it; few people watched it; and it was canceled early in its second season. "Everybody at the network decided it was too smart," she says. The next year, NBC and Universal merged, Zucker was promoted to president of NBC Universal Television Group, and Pope inherited a pilot that Universal had produced for Fox. The scripts were good but, like Boomtown, dense. "I thought if I liked it, it wouldn't work," Pope says. "The conventional wisdom was that it was too smart for Fox, that Hugh Laurie was too old and weird. And what was with the limp? The whole town was like, `What?' "
Initially nobody watched House. But then Fox president Gail Berman refused to cancel it. "Gail Berman just believed in it," Pope says. "I saw someone who was really putting her neck out for something that she believed in that was not yet connecting."
That kind of patience, however, seemed to have become intolerable at NBC, a network trying to scramble out of fourth place. Kevin Reilly, Zucker's handpicked Entertainment replacement, had to exert almost all his political capital trying to get the network to support him in picking up The Office for a second season, after a first season of dismal ratings. Reilly recognized that a culture of fear had taken hold at the network, but Pope wasn't one to cower and supplicate. "Katherine is either refreshingly or frighteningly honest, depending on your particular point of view," says producer Erwin Stoff, who's worked with her on various projects at NBC. "I see it as refreshing, but some might not."
"When there's a lot of organizational insecurity, people have a tendency to hide, or to politic, or to position," Reilly adds. "Ironically, it's these times when you really need straight talk about your product and your business. Katherine could cut right through." Reilly made her his No. 2. About a year and a half later, with ratings not rising fast enough, he learned over the Memorial Day weekend that he'd been fired, replaced by two cochairmen: Marc Graboff, who'd handle the nuts and bolts and business side of the job, and Ben Silverman, who'd be the entertainment czar. In one of those great show business ironies, Silverman happened to be the executive producer of The Office, the show Reilly had fought so hard to save.
Gender has long been a tricky thing in the entertainment business. If you're a woman, success has sometimes been predicated on suppressing certain parts of your biology or even your psyche. Before Pope arrived, the last important female executive at NBC had been Jamie Tarses, who zoomed through NBC's programming ranks in the early '90s and, owing largely to the success of her pet project, Friends, was hired to be ABC's entertainment chief, the first woman to hold that position at any network. In a 1997 New York Times Magazine article published just after Tarses' spectacular failure and dismissal from that job, an agent said, "You think of her as a girl, and it changes how you do business with her. We'll have a meeting and I can tell if she's hurt by something, like I've wounded her personally.... It's just business with [male executives]. With Jamie, it's more like dating."
Pope still isn't afraid to admit that her emotions make her passionate about her work—she loved busting her ass on Heroes, the show she championed from very early on, as well as cheerleading the wobbly 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights. "At a network, you're not supposed to get emotionally involved in the shows; you're supposed to look at your whole slate," she says. "I'm not like that. It's no secret that the 30 Rock pilot tested terribly, and there was a point where it was possible it wasn't going to get picked up. I just felt like the hysterical girl in the room, going, `Are we seriously talking about not picking up 30 Rock?! Wait a minute! We have Tina Fey, and we have Alec Baldwin! What are we even talking about here?'
"I think the biggest reason I got fired is because I'm a pain in the ass. In the best ways, but also probably in some of the worst ways."
The man at the helm of NBC Entertainment when she was fired was Silverman. He was surrounded from the start by a great deal of hype that he, like Tartikoff, would break the mold, make successful shows, and put NBC on top again. He also seemed to embrace being as famous as Tartikoff, who did cameos on NBC shows and once hosted SNL. Before NBC, Silverman had headed a successful production company that imported foreign shows like Ugly Betty and The Office and repurposed them for American tastes. He had a reputation as a party animal, one that was solidified when he famously rented an actual animal—a white tiger—for an industry party. And he was mouthy. "They're basically D-girls," the brand-new NBC executive said of his rivals, Steve McPherson of ABC, and Reilly, who'd moved over to Fox, because both had worked in development before landing their jobs. He was using a term synonymous in the industry with low-level, usually female, worker bees. Silverman's he-man ethos can only have been reinforced by the video that emerged of him bare-chested in a towel, singing the blues in a locker room, with buddies Fisher Stevens and Rob Morrow.
Pope declines to talk about her relationship with Silverman, but a source who knew them at NBC says initially there weren't any major problems between the two. You could even interpret a comment that one source heard Silverman make at work functions—referring to Pope and another female executive as "my fembots," meaning, the source says, "hot women who would go out and kill for him"—as a Neanderthal compliment. When asked about this, Silverman e-mailed, among other things not appropriate for publication, "Do u work for some executive online lie factory or elle?" He denies having made the remark and says he and Pope were on great terms.
But then came the summer of 2007 and Bionic Woman. Internal NBC polls suggested that a large percentage of the viewing audience was both aware of the show, a remake of the 1970s hit, and inclined to check it out. From all the Bionic Woman billboards and bus stop ads in Hollywood, it was clear that the network was pinning its fortunes on the series. There was just one problem, according to a person familiar with the production: After seeing scripts from several of the early episodes and a cut of the second episode, many in the building, Pope loudly among them, thought that Bionic was clearly in need of a major creative overhaul that would ideally take more time than there was before the show's air date.
Pope admits that she hoped Bionic Woman could have been held until midseason so some of the major kinks could have been worked out. But network jobs are lost and saved based on fourth-quarter earnings, which reflect whether a network sold ads on its new fall shows. NBC needed Bionic Woman for the fall, and Pope was seen in the building as being unyielding in her efforts to get it postponed.
Bionic Woman premiered to huge numbers, which vindicated those who had wanted to rush it out to a clamoring public. And then, week by week, the numbers dropped. By the eighth episode, the show was dead. Another new NBC remake, Knight Rider, was also in the basement. And then, just a month later, Pope was labeled "the Black Widow" in the New York Post. In a bit of gallows humor, her staff left a copy of the 1954 film noir of the same name on her desk and began calling their boss "the Black Widow." They could laugh about it because nobody in the building had ever heard her referred to as such. Her last day was on Friday, December 5.
The following Monday, NBC made massive layoffs that claimed much of Pope's former staff, so she spent her first day of unemployment back at the office, counseling them. How could she go back there? "There are times where you sense that something is going on with your kid and you literally have a physical response and have to get home. That's what I felt like. I couldn't not be there when that was happening to all these people I care about," she says.
Silverman stayed seven more months, and in July 2009 he announced he was leaving NBC to start a new venture with IAC, the company controlled by Barry Diller.
Pope is now busy with writers. She has 14 projects she's working on, a few of which will debut in fall 2010, with her and Chernin's names attached as executive producers. She's working again with Kings' producer Erwin Stoff and still seems a little pained when she discusses Kings, a show she loved so much that premiered to virtually no ratings at NBC, three months after she left. It was, she thinks, a victim of poor marketing and a lousy time slot. And, well, she admits, maybe also because it was set in a present-day kingdom in an alternate universe in which characters speak with a vaguely Shakespearean cadence—a little too much for the public to get its collective head around. Kings was a spectacular show in its own way, in that nothing like it had ever been on television before. Creatively adventurous programming.
The first thing she noticed about Chernin was that he was missing a quality that had become so familiar in her bosses at NBC. "I was like, This guy doesn't seem scared of anything," she says. "That's interesting."
Upon finalizing their deal, Chernin asked his new head of television to be honest and lay out the quality that she thought would be most annoying to him as her boss, just so he could be prepared. "Annoying? I'm annoying," she said. "Everything about me is annoying." It was, he had to admit, exactly what he'd been looking for.


text:
When PBT talked to him last week, Knicks legend Earl "The Pearl" Monroe was raving about these New York Knicks. He likes what he sees. He likes what Carmelo Anthony brings.
And if Anthony wants to unretired Monroe's No. 15 jersey, Monroe is good with that, he told the New York Post.
Anthony wears No. 7 because the No. 15 jersey he wore in Denver for seven seasons (and one at Syracuse) had been retired by the Knicks not once, but twice.
Monroe's 15 was retired in 1986 and again for Dick McGuire in 1992. McGuire passed away last year.
"[Carmelo] talked to me on the podium after the press conference and I told him I'm fine with it but he'd have to ask the McGuires," Monroe told The Post. "Fifteen, it's just a number to me. I'd be honored if he wore it."
If a player wants to wear a new jersey number next season he has to apply by March 1 to the league. Anthony did not meet that deadline. So he will be No. 7 next year.
The Knicks would probably be good with him switching numbers in a few years. Right now his No. 7 jersey merchandise is flying off the shelves at Madison Square Garden. A number change in a couple years and people have to buy all new stuff again… nah, nobody would ever be that crass at marketing. Right Kobe?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
November 1st, 2011
Amish beard-cutting attacks uncover suspected cult
By Chris Welch, CNN
Bergholz, Ohio (CNN) – Aden Troyer hasn't figured out precisely how he'll tell his daughters – now 4 and 5 years old – why they're growing up without a mother.
"I've kind of held back a little bit because they are so young, and I do not want to depress them," he said from his home in north-central Pennsylvania.
Troyer, his ex-wife, Wilma, and their two children are part of the Amish faith, which includes living a simple life free of the conveniences of the modern world, like electricity and motorized vehicles.
But what happened to the Troyer family is anything but simple.
Troyer believes that he and his wife were lured into a cult made up of breakaway members of the larger Amish community near Bergholz in rural eastern Ohio. He said it was – and still is – ruled with an iron fist by his former father-in-law, Sam Mullet, a man who Troyer and others say is anything but a typical Amish leader.
They say Mullet has created rules and punishments for breaking those rules that Amish folks had never heard of before.
The Amish typically resolve disputes within their community without the interference of law enforcement. But they say Mullet takes this to a whole new level.
"The way he's been treating and talking to people, he is not an Amish guy," Troyer said. "He is not your typical peaceful, loving Amish person."
Troyer said he eventually realized what he was getting caught up in and moved away from Mullet's compound, along with his two daughters.
There's a problem: Wilma did not. Three years after their marriage in 2004, the couple divorced, and Troyer received full custody of the girls.
Mullet's name emerged recently after several Amish-on-Amish beard-cutting attacks, in which most of the perpetrators are believed to be followers of Mullet's breakaway group.
Last week, the FBI announced that it was investigating the incidents to determine whether any federal laws had been broken. No further details were given.
Local law enforcement officials and members of the Amish community believe Mullet has created a cult and is singlehandedly responsible for orchestrating the beard-cutting incidents and other crimes in recent years. Mullet has not been charged with any crimes.
To get Mullet's side of the story, I would travel to his rural Ohio compound, an hour's drive from the nearest city of Steubenville. But before getting to Mullet, I heard accusations, first hand, from the people who were once close to him.
An Amish 'cult'
Just before 11 in the evening on October 4 at a farmhouse outside the rural Ohio community of Carrollton, Myron and Arlene Miller heard their doorbell ring.
Myron Miller crawled out of bed, unsure of what he'd find.
A group of men armed with scissors and battery-powered clippers attacked Miller, holding him down and cutting out a chunk of his beard, according to the Millers and law enforcement.
Arlene said that when it was over, her husband's beard was "about 4 or 5 inches" shorter.
The attackers targeted Miller's beard because, as a member of the Amish community, it is a significant symbol of his faith.
Arlene says the men attacked her husband because he had helped one of Sam Mullet's children leave his Amish sect.
"(These men) knew he was suspicious," Arlene recalled, "and just like that, just so fast, (one of them) grabs for his beard and starts pulling on him to pull him out the door."
Five men were arrested in the attack, as well as another incident earlier in the day, according to Jefferson County Sheriff Fred J. Abdalla. Four of the five suspects are related to Mullet, including three of his sons.
Additional arrests aren't likely because only two of the four victims of the attacks since early September - including Myron Miller - are pressing charges, Abdalla said.
Going against the Amish tradition of solving conflict through their church, Arlene Miller says, she and her husband decided to report the crime to police because they hope to prevent other people from being hurt, including Mullet's followers, who "need help."
"There's a lot of lives being messed up down there. There's a lot of people being abused and brainwashed," she said.
Mullet's sect is made up primarily of his relatives living on and around an 800-acre compound in a remote valley outside Bergholz, Ohio, according to the sheriff.
"They (have) titled themselves the 'Bergholz Clan,' " Abdalla said. "It's a cult."
Sam Mullet is the undisputed leader of this group, according to the sheriff.
"When I tell you nothing moves out there unless he says it moves, that is the case," Abdalla said. "Everyone takes their marching orders from him."
Abdalla says he fears that this "cult" could come to a dramatic demise, as others have.
"If I were to get a call right now telling me, 'Sheriff, they're all dead in the community out there,' it wouldn't surprise me," he said.
"That's the power and control that he has over those people, because if he were to tell them right now to drink this poison Kool-Aid, they would do it."
'We're locking our doors'
Abdalla has seen a lot in his 27 years as sheriff, but he says the stories he's heard firsthand from inside Sam Mullet's compound are the among the most bizarre.
One came from a man who said Mullet put him in a chicken coop for 15 days in the dead of winter over a religious disagreement. The victim would not press charges.
"He was convinced that (Mullet) was doing him a favor," Abdalla said. "That's like me hitting you in the head with a two-by-four and telling you I'm doing you a favor … and you agree and say, 'Yes, you have done me a favor.' That's how domineering (he is)."
Because of Abdalla's involvement in these incidents and Mullet's distrust of law enforcement, the two have been at odds since Mullet moved to Jefferson County in the mid-1990s.
Abdalla said he even received death threats from one of Mullet's sons, which he believes was orchestrated by Sam Mullet.
"It was two in the morning, (and he's) telling me I'm a dead SOB," Abdalla said. "He was charged with threatening, harassing, what have you. He went to court (and pleaded guilty)."
These stories and the terrible memory of the attack on her husband keep Arlene Miller awake at night, fearing the worst.
She's concerned that talking to the media – and the fact that her husband is only one of two beard-cutting victims who has pressed charges - could put them at risk once again.
"They didn't get all of Myron's beard that night, so (Mullet) is probably not done," she said.
That fear has driven the Millers, like a lot of other Amish families in the community, to take unprecedented precautions to protect themselves.
"We're locking doors, and we've got pepper spray and stuff like that," she said.
They never kept locks on their doors in the past, a trait shared by many Amish.
The "Bergholz clan" has also created a climate of fear in Amish communities well outside Bergholz and its surrounding towns. A man from Berlin, a couple hours away, who refused to give his name said he is fearful of the power Mullet wields.
"If we say something and they find out, we're going to be the target," the man said. "They would come after me. It's kind of scary here. I just don't want to get involved in it."
Inside Mullet's compound
Seven miles down a stretch of winding two-lane highway, deep in a valley outside Bergholz, you have to travel along township road over a mound of mud to get to the compound of Sam Mullet.
On the other side of that mound, barns and stables well past their prime come into view. A few white houses are mixed in with the farm buildings.
The only sound is the occasional neighing of the horses.
Next to a barn stands a boy, not much older than 9 or 10, in the plain Amish clothing: blue shirt, suspenders and trousers.
He stares at me, clearly an outsider, as I drive up in a car. Another boy watches as he sits just under the barn door near what is perhaps some horse-powered farm equipment.
Farther down the road, a group of younger children in the same type of clothing sit in what appears to be a sandbox.
Not one word can be heard, not even a laugh.
As I get out of the car, notebook in hand, the two boys disappear into the barn.
Little faces, some cradled by bonnets, peer out of windows of one in the houses as I approach.
A single knock at the door of a big white house at the dead end of the township road is answered by Sam Mullet, known as Bishop Mullet to the folks around here.
His tall frame fills the entryway; a long, wispy beard moves in the occasional light breeze. He seemed to be a charming, easygoing man.
When asked whether he'll respond to some of the charges folks are making about him, he chuckles and politely declines, saying he doesn't want to seem like he's just out to argue with people in the media.
"Can you perhaps respond to these allegations that you're running a cult?" I ask.
"People say a lot of things," Mullet says, a small, confident grin on his face.
"Are you running a cult?"
"No. It's not a cult."
"What about the allegations that you're behind the beard-cutting crimes?"
"Beard-cutting is a crime, is it?"
Another minute or so goes by as I attempt to glean more information. He repeats his claims from earlier that people "say a lot of things" before he politely dismisses me and heads back inside.
In an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Mullet said he did not order the beard attacks but didn't stop his sons and the other men from carrying it out.
In that same interview, he said he should be free to punish people who break the laws of the church.
Accusations of marriage-splitting
Looking back on his time under what he calls Sam Mullet's rule, Aden Troyer says he was brainwashed "80% of the way."
He wishes he could say the same of his wife, Wilma, Mullet's daughter. It was the beginning of the end of their marriage, and Troyer said that what happened over the course of a couple years wrecked him emotionally.
According to Troyer, the trouble began when Mullet heard that Troyer was planning to move his daughter and his granddaughters out of the group over the way Mullet was "ruling" his followers.
Not long after, Troyer said, Mullet began interfering with their marriage. Troyer said Mullet would ask women, including his wife, "about their sexual relationships with their husbands."
"That's very atypical behavior for Amish to do that," Troyer said. "It's unheard of."
He said Wilma spent more and more time with her father at his house. The two would sometimes talk all day and all night. He believes this was a tactic to get the women to a position in which they weren't thinking clearly on their own.
"One day I was at work, and I got home and … he came and took her, and that was the end of it."
Troyer said Mullet would allow them to be together only if Troyer gave in to Mullet's demands. Troyer refused, won custody of their two girls and moved to Pennsylvania.
Since Wilma has visitation rights but chooses not to exercise them, according to Troyer, this past spring he brought the girls back from Pennsylvania to see her. Once there, he said Wilma refused to let the children leave, citing an order from Sam Mullet.
The sheriff called in a SWAT team and the kids were returned to their father.
"In the Amish community, no one has jurisdiction over what goes on between a husband and wife," Troyer said. "He's the only guy and only leader that I know of that ever has gotten into an Amish couple's married life."
Troyer says his one regret is not being able to see the situation coming with enough time to warn his wife. To this day, he says, he holds his wife in the most positive light and says the only reason he wanted full custody was "for the safety of the children."
As for how he's explained why their mother has been absent so far in their lives, he's as gentle as possible.
"(I tell them) they do not need to be scared of their mother. She loves them, and she will not hurt them. I will say that," Troyer said. "But I don't think they're old enough that they can grasp what this guy is doing."
In that final minute on Sam Mullet's doorstep inside his compound, I asked him about the accusation that he split up his daughter's marriage to Troyer, with rumors of several more.
"Maybe you should ask the people whose beards were cut about the marriages they've split up," Mullet responded.
"Can you elaborate on that? What are you referring to, exactly?" I asked.
A quick chuckle, and he kindly said he was done.
soundoff (909 Responses)
About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.


text:
The Problem
Lateral epicondylitis – better known as "tennis elbow" – is a tendinosis of common attachment of the forearm extensor tendons (extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB), extensor digitorum, extensor digiti minimi, and extensor carpi ulnaris). It is a commonly seen source of lateral elbow pain in adult patients in their 5th and 6th decades of life. The pathologic process is believed to be initiated by a microtear within the origin of the ECRB. On histologic evaluation, lateral epicondylitis has been shown to resemble angiofibroblastic hyperplasia. There is a paucity of inflammatory cells present, indicating that it is a chronic, degenerative process that likely results from repetitive microtrauma. While the condition is generally self-limiting within 10 – 18 months, a variety of treatment options exist to reduce symptoms and improve function in this typically active patient population.
Clinical Presentation
The prevalence of lateral epicondylitis has been reported to range from 1 – 3% of the general population. Lateral epicondylitis is most commonly seen in patients aged 45-55 years who present with a complaint of lateral elbow pain with activity. While commonly associated with tennis players, lateral epicondylitis more commonly occurs in nonathletes, with those employed in manual labor that requires repetitive forearm and wrist extension and those who use vibratory tools at increased risk.
Patients typically present with a chief complaint of activity related lateral elbow pain. The pain is typically insidious in onset but its development is often associated with recent changes in their occupational or athletic activities. Lateral epicondylitis patients commonly describe significant pain with activities that involve active wrist and elbow extension in addition to discomfort when shaking hands. The pain may radiate down the lateral aspect of the forearm.
Continue Reading
Diagnostic Workup
Physical examination
Inspection of the affected elbow may reveal soft tissue swelling about the lateral aspect of the elbow. Tenderness to palpation is often present over the common extensor origin, just anterior and distal to the lateral epicondyle. Typically, patients have full elbow and wrist range of motion. The patient's pain can usually be reproduced with resisted wrist extension with the elbow extended and forearm pronated in addition to a positive Maudsley's Test which is production of pain with resisted middle finger extension. The chair test is another provocative test that can be performed in the office. Patients will have reproduction of their pain while attempting to lift a chair with forearm in pronation. Diminished grip strength may be present with dynamometer testing due to pain.
While lateral epicondylitis is a clinical diagnosis, plain radiographs can exclude the presence of bony pathology. While AP and lateral views of the elbow are usually normal, patchy calcification in the soft tissue overlying the common extensor tendon origin may be seen. MRI usually demonstrates increased signal in the region of the common extensor origin and may show thickening of affected tendons, ECRB tendon tears and soft tissue calcification.
Non-Operative Management
Non-operative management is the mainstay of treatment for cases of lateral epicondylitis and is reported to be successful in up to 95% of patients. Non-operative management includes activity modification and rest, often coupled with physical therapy with goals of maintaining range of motion, eccentric muscle strengthening and modalities to reduce soft tissue swelling and inflammation.
Some authors recommend using bracing in the form of a counterforce brace to reduce the tension in forearm extensors by preventing full contraction. The brace is applied over the flexor mass and provides a new fulcrum during muscle contraction, limiting the stress applied to the common extensor origin. Wrist extension splints may also be used.
Additional components of non-operative management include oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication and corticosteroid injections. Corticosteroid +/- a local anesthetic is injected at the site of maximal tenderness with the needle advanced to the periosteum and redirected to facilitate spreading the solution around the common extensor origin. There is evidence showing superior symptom relief compared to NSAIDs at 4 weeks but no difference in the long-term outcome. Potential downsides of corticosteroid injections include skin depigmentation, fat atrophy and a possible increase in blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections have gained recent attention in the management of lateral epicondylitis, with a level 1 study showing superior outcomes compared to corticosteroid injections. The PRP is injected into and around the ECRB tendon using a peppering technique as described above for corticosteroid injections.
For our lateral epicondylitis patients initiating treatment we typically use a multimodal approach including a corticosteroid injection (1cc of dexamethasone and 3cc of lidocaine) coupled with a 6 week course of an oral anti-inflammatory medication, counterforce bracing and 6 weeks of physical therapy. For patients who respond to this treatment but have recurrence of their symptoms, we will recommend a second corticosteroid injection and discuss the potential use of PRP as an alternative.
Indications for Surgery
Surgical intervention is indicated for patients whose symptoms and functional limitations persist despite 6-12 months of non-operative management. Prior to surgery, all other causes of lateral elbow pain should be ruled out, with an MRI often obtained to exclude alternative etiologies.
Surgical Technique
Many methods have been described for the operative management of recalcitrant lateral epicondylitis. The three most commonly used approaches are the open technique, the arthroscopic technique and the percutaneous technique. To date no approach has been shown to be superior with most reports of surgical management describing success rates in the 95 – 97% range.
Open Technique
A 3 cm curvilinear or longitudinal incision is made centered over the lateral epicondyle with soft tissue dissection performed to identify the interval between the ECRL and common extensor origin.
Elevate the normal-appearing tendon of the extensor digitorum communis exposing the deeper abnormal-appearing, grey, edematous and friable tendinotic ECRB tissue. This abnormal tissue is excised exposing the underlying bone of the lateral epicondyle.
The lateral epicondyle is decorticated to expose a bleeding surface and stimulate healing with care taken to avoid entering the elbow joint. We also use a 0.45 K-wire to drill 3-4 holes in the lateral epicondyle to facilitate bleeding at the ECRB origin.
Repair of ECRL and EDC is then performed with absorbable sutures.
Skin is closed and patient is placed into a posterior splint until the first post-operative office visit.
Arthroscopic Technique
Useful approach for patients with concomitant intra-articular pathology.
The patient is positioned prone with two chest rolls with care taken to pad all bony prominences. Apply a tourniquet to the proximal arm. Using an arm board, position patient with ipsilateral shoulder in 90 degrees of abduction and neutral rotation. The operative elbow should be in 90 degrees of flexion with their hand pointing toward the floor.
Typically the site is visualized with the arthroscope in the medial portal. The lateral capsule and ECRB origin are approached from their undersurface through the superior-lateral portal site. The ECRB is debrided with a mechanical shaver and the lateral epicondyle can be decorticated with a burr. Care must be taken to avoid injuring the lateral collateral ligament.
Percutaneous Technique
Can be performed in the office setting or the operating room.
After local anesthetic administered throughout the area a 1 cm incision is made directly over the lateral epicondyle.
The common extensor origin is split and the ECRB origin is released by a stab incision.
Downsides to this approach include the fact that the pathologic tissue is not removed and the lateral epicondyle is not decorticated.
Pearls and Pitfalls of Technique
Maximize non-operative management as 95% of patients improve without surgery.
After removal of the pathologic tissue during surgical management consider decorticating or drilling the lateral epicondyle to promote bleeding
Ensure that no other diagnosis is present in patients with persistent symptoms.
Avoid excessive debridement of collateral ligament origins, which may result in iatrogenic instability.
Potential Complications
Radial nerve injury
Lateral ulnar collateral ligament (LUCL) injury
Recurrence of symptoms
Post-operative Rehabilitation
Patients are placed into a posterior, long arm splint with elbow in 70-80 degrees of flexion until their first post-operative visit. At that visit the splint is removed and unrestricted use of the elbow is permitted. We recommend avoiding heavy lifting for 3-4 weeks post-operatively. Post-op PT is directed to restore ROM and work on eccentric strengthening of the extensor musculature.
Outcomes/Evidence in the Literature
Mishra, AK, Skrepnik, NV, Edwards, SG, Jones, GL, Sampson, S, Vermillion, DA, Ramsey, ML, Karli, DC, Rettig, AC. "Efficacy of Platelet-Rich Plasma for Chronic Tennis Elbow: A Double-Blind, Prospective, Multicenter, Controlled Trial of 230 Patients". Am J Sports Med. 2013. (Clinically significant success rates, as measured by a >25% reduction in pain score versus baseline, were found in platelet-rich plasma-treated patients at 24 weeks after treatment (p=0.012).)
Gosens, T, Peerbooms, JC, van Laar, W, den Oudsten, BL. "Ongoing positive effect of platelet-rich plasma versus corticosteroid injection in lateral epicondylitis: a double-blind randomized controlled trial with 2-year follow-up". Am J Sports Med. vol. 39. 2011. pp. 1200-8. (Reduction in Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score sustained over 2 years in the group treated with platelet-rich plasma over the group treated with corticosteroids.)
Ahmad, Z, Brooks, R, Kang, SN, Weaver, H, Nunney, I, Tytherleigh-Strong, G, Rushton, N. "The Effect of Platelet-Rich Plasma on Clinical Outcomes in Lateral Epicondylitis". Arthroscopy. vol. 29. 2013. pp. 1851-62. (A systematic review of the current evidence on the clinical outcomes of PRP injections for lateral epicondylitis. PRP improved clinical satisfaction scores, as demonstrated by two different cohort studies. There is evidence for symptom improvement over treatment with bupivacaine. The evidence for symptom improvement over corticosteroids is equivocal.)
Söderberg, J, Grooten, WJ, Ang, BO. "Effects of eccentric training on hand strength in subjects with lateral epicondylalgia: a randomized-controlled trial". Scand J Med Sci Sports. vol. 22. 2012. pp. 797-803. (Pain-free grip strength as measured with vigorimeter (kPa) at baseline, mid-intervention follow-up at week 3 and at end-intervention follow-up at week 6. Exercise group (N=18), control group (n=19). Error bars show mean and 95% con?dence intervals.)
Cullinane, FL, Boocock, MG, Trevelyan, FC. "Is eccentric exercise an effective treatment for lateral epicondylitis? A systematic review". Clin Rehabil. 2013. (A systematic review of randomized and controlled clinical trials incorporating eccentric exercise as a treatment for patients diagnosed with lateral epicondylitis. Conclusion: The majority of consistent findings support the inclusion of eccentric exercise as part of a multimodal therapy programme for improved outcomes in patients with lateral epicondylitis.)
Khashaba, A. "Nirschl tennis elbow release with or without drilling". Br J Sports Med. vol. 35. 2001. pp. 200-1. (Decortication of the lateral epicondyle during tendon release surgery was evaluated in this randomized double blind comparative prospective trial of 23 elbows (18 patients). The authors conclude that drilling confers no benefit and actually causes more pain, stiffness, and wound bleeding than not drilling.)
Lateral epicondylitis is a relatively common cause of lateral elbow pain with activity in adults in their 40s and 50s. While commonly referred to as tennis elbow, lateral epicondylitis more typically occurs in non-athletes and laborers involved in repetitive activities. Conservative management is successful in 95% of patients, and for most patients, symptoms abate within 1 year. In rare instances, when non-operative approaches fail and patients remain symptomatic and functionally limited, surgical treatment is considered with open and arthroscopic approaches described.
Copyright © 2017, 2013 Decision Support in Medicine, LLC. All rights reserved.
No sponsor or advertiser has participated in, approved or paid for the content provided by Decision Support in Medicine LLC. The Licensed Content is the property of and copyrighted by DSM.
- The Problem
- Clinical Presentation
- Diagnostic Workup
- Non-Operative Management
- Indications for Surgery
- Surgical Technique
- Pearls and Pitfalls of Technique
- Potential Complications
- Post-operative Rehabilitation
- Outcomes/Evidence in the Literature
- Summary


text:
- This event has passed.
All-age Stories
February 2 @ 11:15 am
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every week that begins at 11:15 am on Thursday, repeating until February 23, 2023
Come join us for a wonderful story time for children of all ages. Get ready to listen to some great stories, and make new friends.
*Masks optional


text:
What if any guarantee was provided when the dog was purchased?
The Parvo vaccine, like most vaccines in both humans and animals, is not 100% effective.
Type: Posts; User: PayrolGuy; Keyword(s):
What if any guarantee was provided when the dog was purchased?
The Parvo vaccine, like most vaccines in both humans and animals, is not 100% effective.
Clearly, because you don't know how to do comps. All of the things you mentioned above can be taken into account when creating a comp.
Did you receive a settlement from another driver or their insurance company?
From the OP's description of events, he wasn't parked in a tow zone and the tow company towed it anyway. That seems like a tow company error to me.
You thought wrong.
Judging by the VC quoted I'm going to assume you are in California.
Your only real option is to sue the towing company in small claims.
Let's see if I have this straight. One of your jobs is to submit reports to this government agency? Your employer has told you to submit more reports to the agency? You make no mention of being...
I wonder what getting on that list cost him? But if he isn't an idiot he will know to sue the other driver and not the insurance company.
Nobody from Lewis Hamilton to the 16 year old I just watched drive over the curb can text and drive well.
Look at that Google...
You have access to the house under your agreement with the owner. You might want to go take a really long shower until you find a new place to live.
The girlfriend doesn't have a dog in this fight. Her wants and needs do not come into play.
But the school is not the referee here and it isn't their place to have to do so.
If you aren't...
The employer doesn't have to allow him to work with the restriction. They can send him to the house or reassign him.
He needs to find out who the work comp insurance adjuster is and give him/her a...
Are you asking about the employer not following the ortho doctor's work restrictions?
If so you husband needs a copy of them in his pocket and the next time they want him to do work that isn't...
What you need to find out is if a Workers' Compensation claim was ever filed.
Why do you think that? Was a workers' compensation claim filed? I doubt it was because if so his medical wouldn't have been paying for it.
That makes no sense at all. If you want to evict your tenant you have to go to court.
You can offer her some cash to leave.
Hidden URLs (that I broke for this post). That's new. Please take your spam elsewhere.
Attention Readers,
Harold99 posts for no other reason than to take shots at senior members of the forum and lawyers in general. *It would be wise to ignore whatever he writes. While the person...
You can look for a new job.
What rights do you think were violated? Your conversations and messages to your employer are not legally private.
No, he doesn't but I'm treating you like a misbehaving child, trying to wear you out so you will go to sleep.
Murder case and a stolen bike case. Those are totally the same thing.
You weren't a party to the case and the letter was shared with all of the parties. And BTW...
Attention Readers,
Harold99 posts for no other reason than to take shots at senior members of the...
I think you will find you will need to find a new place to ask your questions.
Had I looked at your posting history before I tried to help you I probably wouldn't have wasted the time.


text:
Herbert Hooded Windbreaker Jacket in Graphite Grey - Dissident
£29.99 Regular price £39.99
Colour: grey
100% Polyester
Info & Care
Machine wash according to label instructions. Do not tumble dry.
Delivery & Returns
UK Economy Delivery (3-7 days)
Free when you spend £40+
£2.80 on orders below this
Royal Mail UK 48 (Royal Mail 1-3 Days)
Royal Mail UK 24 (Royal Mail Next Day* - Order by 2pm)
UK Next Day FREE Delivery (Order by 2pm Mon - Fri*)
FREE when you spend £80+
* Next Day via Royal Mail - order by 2pm (GMT) Monday - Friday. Tracked service.
Delivery is Monday to Saturday - excludes Sundays & Bank Holidays.
Not quite right? No problem. You've got 28 days after you receive your parcel to return any unwanted items. Just make sure they're unworn and in their original condition. You can also request an exchange for a different size or colour.
If you're in the UK you can use a pre-paid Royal Mail label. You can also return by any other courier of your choice.
We aim to process all returns & refunds within 10 working days.
Read our full returns policy.


text:
Cuccos are recurring Animals in The Legend of Zelda series.[2][3][4][5][6][7][note 1] They are well known for attacking Link if he attacks them for an extended period of time, and are sometimes known as the Cucco's Revenge Squad.[note 2]
A Link to the Past
Cuccos could be found in Kakariko Village in A Link to the Past. This game introduced their vengeful "revenge squad" behavior. Cucco-like monsters appeared in the Dark World, reacting to attacks with the same movements and sound effects, including the same "revenge squad" behavior.
Link's Awakening
Cuccos in Link's Awakening cannot be lifted or thrown without the aid of the Power Bracelet, and could mainly be found in Mabe Village. They can be killed using the Magic Powder or Magic Rod. This is the only game in which Cuccos can be killed. When Cuccos are killed, the cuccoo revenge squad will disappear and stop attacking. The ability to kill Cuccos is removed in the Switch version of the game.
On Koholint Island's mountain range, a hen house can be found housing the Cucco Keeper and several Cuccos.
Ocarina of Time
Cuccos could be found in a variety of places in Ocarina of Time, and again attacked Link in swarms if struck. As a new feature, Link could grab a Cucco and use it to glide slowly when jumping off a cliff. This technique is known as Cucco Gliding, and can be used several times throughout the game to earn Pieces of Heart. Unlike the Flying Rooster, Cuccos grabbed in this and later games cause Link to slowly glide downward instead of fly upwards.
When Link first encounters Malon in the Town Market she tells him of her father who had come to the Castle to deliver milk but probably fell asleep whilst doing so.[10] She offers Link a Weird Egg that she had been incubating in return for looking for him.[11] After a day passes, a Cucco will hatch from the egg.[12] The Cucco is necessary for Link to awaken Talon inside the castle.[13]
Anju, who can be found in Kakariko Village, requests that Link helps return her missing Cuccos to their pen. If this task is accomplished, Link can earn a Bottle. When Link returns later, the Cuccos will found to be out of their pen once more. He can complete the task as many times as he returns to the village. Anju will instead give him fifty Rupees each time.
A second Bottle, filled with Lon Lon Milk, can be won in Talon's Chicken Game. This minigame is only accessible as a child at Lon Lon Ranch, and requires Link to pick Talon's three Super Cuccos from among a brood of regular Cuccos.[14] There is no discernible difference in appearance or behavior between these Super Cuccos and regular Cuccos.
Ocarina of Time also features Cojiro, the only known blue Cucco, and a smaller variant known as the Pocket Cucco.
Majora's Mask
In Majora's Mask, Cuccos appear and function the same as in Ocarina of Time. The Cucco Shack at Romani Ranch is home to a number of Cucco chicks, which Link helps to mature into adulthood using the Bremen Mask. There is also one Cucco in the Barn. However, other than maturing the baby Cuccos to obtain the Bunny Hood, Cuccos serve no purpose in this game and cannot effectively be used for gliding.
Oracle of Seasons
Cuccos in Oracle of Seasons appear similarly and function identically to those found in Link's Awakening, however they cannot be killed. An interesting attribute of Cuccos unique to Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages is the effect Mystery Seeds have on them. If a Cucco has not called in the Revenge Squad when it is hit by a Mystery Seed, it will be reverted to a baby form of itself which will continue to swarm Link. However, this baby form cannot damage Link.
If the Cucco has called in the Revenge Squad, then it will instead triple in size, hurting Link through physical contact until he leaves. When a Cucco is enlarged like this, it becomes impossible to pick up, and will immediately begin to attack Link if he attacks it again.
Oracle of Ages
Four Swords Adventures
Cuccos in Four Swords Adventures are similar to the ones in A Link to the Past, attacking Link with a Cucco Revenge Squad when attacked.
The Minish Cap
With a boisterous crow and a cute
With a boisterous crow and a cute
The Cuccos of The Minish Cap are mostly the same as in A Link to the Past, though there are golden Cuccos that appear only for a minigame along with small yellow Cucco Chicks. The Cuccos play a part in a mini game where Link has to capture the Cuccos before the time runs out. The golden Cuccos are the most hyper and will escape the Link's grasp much more frequently than the white Cuccos. If Link hits a Cucco when it is trapped in a corner more than about 20 times, it will run around the whole of Hyrule Town and may cause Link harm. The Cucco chicks will attack Link if he is Minish-sized. Link can fuse Kinstones with the Cucco chicks on Swiftblade's house if he is in Minish form.
Twilight Princess
Cuccos in Twilight Princess come in white, brown and other realistic chicken colors. When attacked repeatedly, the Cuccos no longer call in the revenge squad. Instead, attacking them allows Link to control the Cucco for ten seconds, similar to how Seagulls could be controlled with Hyoi Pears in The Wind Waker.
The Oocca are very similar to Cuccos in appearance and name. When Link grabs one in City in the Sky, they can even be used to glide like a regular Cucco.
Rusl lent Link a shiny Golden Cucco with faster flight abilities that allowed Link to reach the Sacred Grove. Unlike other Twilight Princess Cuccos, the Golden Cucco cannot be controlled by striking it repeatedly. If Link speaks to him as Wolf Link, he will sing a familiar rhyme, but with a twist.[15]
Cucco Leader
A white Cucco known as the Cucco Leader is the Leader of all Cats in the Hidden Village. Unlike other Cuccos, he is not arrogant, but seems to genuinely care for all the Cats and wants them to be happy.
Phantom Hourglass
Cuccos in Phantom Hourglass appear and function similarly to their counterparts in Ocarina of Time. The Revenge Squad comes at Link at much higher speed than any other game, making them a more lethal force.
Spirit Tracks
Cuccos in Spirit Tracks appear as white birds. When attacked repeatedly, many Cuccos will fly and attack Link for as long as the attacked Cucco is red. Additionally, they can be transported in a Freight Car. Georgio, in northwestern Castle Town, sells groups of five for 50 Rupees.[16] Link can only transport up to five Cuccos at a time.[17] Like with other cargo items, Link loses a Cucco every time his Train is hit.[18] Link can earn a Force Gem by bringing ten Cuccos to Harry in Aboda Village. Link can obtain another Force Gem by bringing five of them to Rael at the Sand Sanctuary.[19] Rael wishes to study their vengeful behavior in order to "harness this unbelievable Cucco power for good of mankind."[20]
A Link Between Worlds
In A Link Between Worlds, Cuccos appear in Kakariko Village and directly to its south, where the Cucco Girl runs the Cucco Ranch Mini-Game. In it, Link is tasked with avoiding large numbers of Cuccos of different sizes in a given amount of time to win Rupees and a Piece of Heart. Cuccos can also be used to glide to places that cannot normally be reached, such as rooftops; several Items must be obtained this way. Cuccos in Lorule sport dark feathers and bald pink heads, reminiscent of Vultures, but behave identically to regular Cuccos.
Tri Force Heroes
In Tri Force Heroes, Cuccos appear in the Sky Realm. They are primarily used for gliding from one platform to another. If one of the Links attacks a Cucco repeatedly, then instead of calling upon a squad of Cuccos to attack him, the Cucco will turn orange and behave erratically for a short time while attacking any Link that draws near, before becoming docile again.
Breath of the Wild
|047 (047) Cucco
Villages often raise these birds for their eggs, but some people actually keep them as pets. They can't fly but can flap their wings mighty furiously if picked up. They're usually calm creatures, but if you're persistent in your torment of them... Well...
West Necluda
Common Locations
East Necluda
Bird Egg
Recoverable Materials
In Breath of the Wild, Cuccos are often seen in populated areas such as towns and Stables. They will peacefully wander around, occasionally pecking at the ground, presumably in search of insects. Like in previous games, if Link leaps off a high surface, they will allow him to glide short distances. When gliding for significant distances with a Cucco, Link's Stamina Gauge will deplete.
Cuccos are mostly raised for their Eggs, but they are sometimes kept as pets by the people of Hyrule.[21] If Link attempts to hit them with a weapon, they will squawk and attempt to flee, sometimes dropping Bird Eggs when this happens. However, if Link does this four times, a cutscene will play where the Cucco crows for their revenge squad, much like Ocarina of Time, but the Cucco can be seen repeatedly jumping and dropping feathers, and after the cutscene ends, the harassed Cucco will summon a swarm of Cuccos. Cuccos will also swarm and attack a monster if the Cucco is attacked once by that monster. While under attack from this swarm, it is possible for Link to rest at a Campfire or Cooking Pot. Doing so will effectively end the attack from the swarm. The swarm will also end if Link goes inside a building. The Cucco who crowed for the revenge squad will not move at all until the swarm ends, instead repeatedly doing the same animation of crowing for the revenge squad, as if crowing for more of their revenge squad.
Specialized Behavior
Cucco's Revenge Squad
Ever since the introduction of the Cucco in A Link to the Past, if Link attacks a Cucco enough times, a large group of indestructible Cuccos will attack him; this flock of pestered poultry is rightly named the Cucco's Revenge Squad. In most titles, attacking a Cucco up to 30 or more times will summon the attacking flock. The flock will continuously attack Link until he either perishes, waits 10 seconds for them to fly away or leaves the area, as Cuccos cannot follow Link into different maps. However, in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, the attacking flock will stay around forever until Link either perishes or leaves the area.
In A Link to the Past, Cuccos appear in both the Light World and the Dark World, making it possible for the attacking flock to appear in both worlds.
In Ocarina of Time, they appear in Lon Lon Ranch, Kakariko Village, and Zora's River. There are some, but few areas in which Link cannot get hurt by the Cucco's Revenge Squad, in which Link is still in the area. Some of these areas are, but are not limited to the Well in Kakariko Village from Ocarina of Time, and a few steps back from the cage in the Astral Observatory from Majora's Mask. Link also cannot be harmed by Cuccos if he is on Epona. When a Cucco has been hit enough times, a cutscene will follow where it will crow for the revenge squad. If a Cucco is hit by even a single blast from a Bomb, it will immediately crow for them.
In all three Zelda games for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, the squad also makes an appearance, protecting their injured brethren from further harm from Link.
While Cuccos are missing in The Wind Waker, Pigs also attack Link when provoked. Nearby Pigs will begin attacking Link, but more will not spawn.
The Cucco Revenge Squad disappears in Twilight Princess, as attacking a Cucco many times will result in being able to control the Cucco for about 10 seconds. The reason for the Revenge Squad's absence is unknown. Ordon Goats from Ordon Village also serve the same purpose as the Cuccos. When herding them, if Link whoops at them too much they will turn red, turn around and knock Link off of Epona. When possessing a Cucco, Cats will attack it.
The squad returned in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, and subsequent games afterward. In Breath of the Wild, certain enemies can be tricked into attacking Cuccos, which will result in in the flock attacking the enemy.
Cucco Gliding
Cucco Gliding originated in Link's Awakening and can be seen in other games such as Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and Phantom Hourglass. In order to glide, Link must grab a Cucco, run off a ledge, and he will glide safely to the ground with the Cucco squirming and frantically flapping its wings.
Cucco gliding is used primarily to gain access to Eagle's Tower by helping Link acquire the Bird Key, using the Flying Rooster. Flight-by-Fowl in Twilight Princess focuses on Cucco gliding. In Tri Force Heroes, Cucco gliding is used in some areas to progress forward in the Sky Realm.
Cucco Steal
In Four Swords Adventures, by using a Crystal Ball a special Cucco behavior called the Cucco Steal can be triggered. When activated, a summoned Cucco will fly around, steal an item from an opposing player, and bring it back to the player who threw the Crystal Ball. The item grabbed will differ across game modes; it will steal a Force Gem if playing in Hyrulean Adventure or a Heart if playing in Shadow Battle. Aside from traveling to the opposite screen of the offensive player there is no way to evade becoming a possible target.
Other Appearances
Hyrule Warriors
In Hyrule Warriors, Cuccos appear as neutral units on the battlefields, usually with only one spawning. When attacked and having been damaged enough, they will turn hostile and start spawning more Cuccos that will follow and attack the player's Warrior. Unlike many previous appearances of Cuccos, they are not invincible and can be defeated. However, they have a significantly high amount of health and high attack power. A golden Cucco, which serves as an enemy general, may usually be summoned among the third wave of Cuccos.
In some Adventure Mode battles, instead of a normal Cucco spawning, the golden variant will appear from the start, visiting Keeps and looking for food in them to power itself up. The player's Warrior will be tasked to stop it before reaching full power. In other battles, a pair of Cuccos may fight over a Keep until it is claimed. In this situation, the player's Warrior may choose to quell the fight before a victor can be declared. If the Cuccos are not calmed, the victor will immediately capture the Keep, and populate it with an army of Cuccos. This army will then begin to campaign towards other Keeps, sending Cuccos as raid parties until the Cucco army has captured a total of three Keeps.
A different Adventure Mode battle involves having to escort a Cucco chick to its mother, the Mama Cucco, while keeping it safe from enemies in the process. Escorting the Cucco chick back to its mother will summon Cucco reinforcements to join the Allied Force. However, if the chick is not teamed up with Mama Cucco in time, the Cucco will turn hostile.
In the Master Quest, Twilight, and Termina maps, as well as in the Boss Challenge and Ganon's Fury modes, a rare silver Cucco variant will sometimes randomly appear in certain battles. Upon defeat, it grants 10,000 Rupees.[verification needed]
The Boss DLC Pack also introduces an unlockable Challenge Mode called Cucco's Fury, which features a playable, giant Cucco. This mode is unlocked after clearing Survival Mode Lv. 3 of Ganon's Fury with an A-Rank. Unlike other characters, the giant Cucco is extremely limited in its moveset, consisting of only a two-hit pecking attack as its normal combo and a tackle as its Strong Attack. Its Special Attack summons flocks of Cuccos to stampede enemies around a wide area. It also cannot use items. Similarly to Ganon in Ganon's Fury, the Cucco cannot be upgraded at the Bazaar and does not gain new weapons. Despite this, in-game data shows that it is equipped with a weapon called Cucco's Spirit, which is of the Light element.
One of Lana's special attacks with the Summoning Gates can also summon a giant Cucco to attack enemies.
Cuccos also assist Linkle in some of her attacks with the Boots.
In the 3DS port, the first chapter of Linkle's story has her leading an army of Cuccos in order to recover her stolen compass from the Skull Kid and to stop Ghirahim from summoning the fully revived version of The Imprisoned.
My Nintendo Picross: Twilight Princess
The twenty-first puzzle in the Picross series and the twenty-seventh puzzle in the Mega Picross series depict a Cucco.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, Cuccos appear as items. When thrown, they release a group of Cuccos who will attack the targeted opponent and anyone else in the way. They also appear in their A Link to the Past appearance as enemies in the Nintendo 3DS exclusive mode, Smash Run.
|Appears in
|How to unlock
|A Link to the Past
Ocarina of Time
|Why exactly a Cucco flees is anyone's guess. Maybe it knows what will happen when it is attacked and is trying to save you from that boundless rage. Once angered, it will call its flock and attack the last player to hit it. If thrown, whoever it hits will suffer its flock's wrath.
|Ocarina of Time
Ocarina of Time 3D
|Now here's a creature that's just poultry in motion. It usually minds its own business, but if you attack it, the chickens will come home to roost-by body-slamming you over and over...and over... A pretty fowl tactic if you ask us. It's almost futile to fight back, and eventually they'll lose interest and stop driving you Cucco.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Support Spirit
No. 186
|Team Power
|Grab | 2200
|Skyloft (Battlefield)
|"Village of the Blue Maiden"
|Tiny Falco Team
Falco x4
|Item: Cucco
| • The enemy favors neutral air attacks
• Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd
• The enemy is easily distracted by items
No. 186
|Floaty Jumps
|Slows your fall speed after jumping.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Cuccos appear as a Spirit with the ability, Floaty Jumps, which grants a Fighter a slow fall after jumping. Cuccos also appear as Throwing Items. If they are thrown at a Fighter, they will flock together and attack that Fighter. Similarly, if they are attacked by a Fighter, they will also attack that Fighter. If a Cucco is damaged by a stage hazard, like spikes for instance, the Cucco will call on a flock and attack every fighter.
Link's Crossbow Training
Cadence of Hyrule
Cuccos appear in Cadence of Hyrule.
- In A Link Between Worlds, the Lorulean Fortune's Choice Guy will tell Link "not to Cucco out on him,"[22] a play on the phrase "don't chicken out on me," which is a reference to the Cuccos being The Legend of Zelda series' counterpart to chickens. Similarly, in Phantom Hourglass, Ciela refers to Linebeck multiple times as a Cucco for his cowardly tendencies,[23][24][25] and Breath of the Wild also continues this tradition with several NPCs.[26][27][28] However, they seem to be aware of chickens' existence, as evidenced by Cado in Breath of the Wild.[29] The only difference between chickens and Cuccos is that Cuccos are able to glide while held above the head.[30]
The name "Cucco" is most probably an onomatopoeia of the sound a chicken makes.
|Names in Other Regions
|咕咕雞 (Gūgū jī) (BotW)
|Cucco (BotW)[33]
|Cucco (LCT)[35]
|Cocotte (BotW)
|Huhn (BotW)
|Coccò (LANS | BotW)
|꼬꼬 (Kkokko) (BotW)
|Кокко (Kokko) (BotW)
|This table was generated using translation pages.
To request an addition, please contact a staff member with a reference.
Video Gallery
|Cucco trailer from Hyrule Warriors
See Also
- Cojiro
- Cucco Chick
- Cucco Leader
- Cuccodex
- Dark Cucco
- Flying Cucco
- Flying Rooster
- Golden Cucco
- Mt. Cucco
- Super Cucco
- Talon's Chicken Game
- ↑ Cuccos are referred to as Chickens in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask — Official Perfect Guide by Versus Books.[8] However, as this contradicts the name given in Majora's Mask, it is not considered Canon.
- ↑ In all versions of Ocarina of Time prior to Ocarina of Time 3D, Cuccos were also referred to as Chickens.[9] This was changed with the release of Ocarina of Time 3D.
- ↑ "Let's start with the Cucco." — Hyrule Warriors Direct, YouTube, published August 4, 2014.
- ↑ Art & Artifacts, Dark Horse Books, pg. 388 (ALttP)
- ↑ Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Books, pg. 120 (ST)
- ↑ "You'll lose points for shooting Cuccos and other living things." (Link's Crossbow Training manual, pg. 10)
- ↑ "Beware of Cucco" — Sign (Defenders of the Triforce)
- ↑ "Cucco
Cuccos will wander around the stage, minding their own business. If you're heartless enough to attack one, you deserve what you get." — Items (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)
- ↑ "Cucco" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask — Official Perfect Guide, Versus Books, pg. 57
- ↑ "Look! A chicken hatched from the egg you were incubating! It's the miracle of life!" — Navi (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "Are you going to the castle, fairy boy? Would you mind finding my dad? He must have fallen asleep somewhere around the castle. What a thing for an adult to do! Tee hee!" — Malon (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "Oh yeah, if you'll look for him, I'll give this to you. I've been incubating this egg very carefully... Tee hee!" — Malon (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "Look! A Cucco hatched from the egg you were incubating! It's the miracle of life!" — N/A (Ocarina of Time 3D)
- ↑ "What in tarnation? Can't a person get a little shut-eye around here?" — Talon (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "Well how about a little game? These three Cuccos I have here are special Super Cuccos! I'm going to throw these Cuccos into that there gaggle of normal Cuccos. If you can pick out these three special birds from among the normal Cuccos within the time limit, I'll give you something good." — Talon (Ocarina of Time)
- ↑ "Twinkle, twinkle, little Cucco... I am gold and not for you-oo..." — Golden Cucco (Twilight Princess HD)
- ↑ "My Cuccos are getting so big, it's almost time to start selling them! If you hear of anyone who wants to buy some Cuccos, please let me know! The price is 50 Rupees for five birds!" — Georgio (Spirit Tracks)
- ↑ "It looks like you already have a bunch of Cuccos roosting in your freight car! They get awfully upset if they're overcrowded, so we can't squeeze in any more." — Georgio (Spirit Tracks)
- ↑ "You might know already, but the Cuccos will run off if the carriage is hit. Some bandits even aim to hit your train and steal Cuccos, so watch out!" — Georgio (Spirit Tracks)
- ↑ "Would you bring me some Cuccos? The more Cuccos, the better. At the very least, I'd like five. Once you bring them to me, I'll give you something nice." — Rael (Spirit Tracks)
- ↑ "[Cuccos] are flightless. But when cornered, they can call their friends to unleash an amazing power. I want to study this phenomenon more closely... My goal is to harness this unbelievable Cucco power for the good of mankind." — Rael (Spirit Tracks)
- ↑ "Villages often raise these birds for their eggs, but some people actually keep them as pets." — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ "C'mon, don't Cucco out on me. Wanna try your luck for 200 Rupees?" — Fortune's Choice Guy (A Link Between Worlds)
- ↑ "We made it to the port! It's so much farther to walk when the bridge is out! Now that we're here, let's look up Linebeck! I've met him once or twice. Can't say I care for him. He's an awfully big talker for such a big cucco! OK, let's head to the port!" — Ciela (Phantom Hourglass)
- ↑ "What?! Is Linebeck shaking over there?! He's such a cucco!" — Ciela (Phantom Hourglass)
- ↑ "Ahhh! I get it. Linebeck's nothing but a frozen, clucking cucco... Why don't you wait there, shivering. Just get real comfortable. Maybe you'll lay an egg! BA-GAWWWK!" — Ciela (Phantom Hourglass)
- ↑ "Yes, you are much like a Cucco. First you fly, and now you cluck. Most intriguing. I look forward to seeing you again." — Mimo (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ "Sesami is such a Cucco." — Canolo (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ "Hey, guy! Where are you going?! The trial is thataway! You're not Cuccoing out, are ya?" — Damia (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ "A Cucco that can't fly would be...just a glorified chicken! How boring!" — Cado (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ "Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose I never told you that I look after Cuccos. Aren't they amazing? They're beautiful creatures who can fly you anywhere!" — Cado (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ Nintendo Official Guidebook—The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Shogakukan, pg. 145
- ↑ Nintendo Official Guidebook—The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Shogakukan, pg. 153
- ↑ "Cucco" — Hyrule Compendium (Breath of the Wild)
- ↑ "Perderás puntos si le disparas a los Cuccos o a otras cosas vivientes." (Link's Crossbow Training manual, pg. 30)
- ↑ "Vous perdrez des points si vous tirez sur des Cuccos et d'autres choses vivantes." (Link's Crossbow Training manual, pg. 20)
- Aggressive Animals
- Animals
- Birds
- Cuccos
- Deliveries
- Freight
- Retaliating Animals
- Characters
- Enemies
- Items
- Playable Characters
- Items in Ocarina of Time
- Items in Ocarina of Time 3D
- Items in Spirit Tracks
- Characters in Hyrule Warriors
- Enemies in Hyrule Warriors
- Playable Characters in Hyrule Warriors
- Characters in Hyrule Warriors Legends
- Enemies in Hyrule Warriors Legends
- Playable Characters in Hyrule Warriors Legends
- Characters in Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
- Enemies in Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
- Playable Characters in Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition
- Items in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
- Items in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
- Items in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate


text:
Our skin is known as the largest organ that we have. Unfortunately, it is often deprived of its own regeneration by use of acidic and mineral oil-containing ingredients. The i-like body care range enhances the skin's self-repair properties apart from reactivating the osmosis (natural detoxification, purification). The skin is vital, maintained, relaxed, looks great and feels good.
Content: 200 ml
Product details
The Bioresonance activation of the personal care products makes the body feel better. The effect and well-being are in harmony. The Yin-Yang balance of the entire skin care line is not only special, but particularly effective. Vital substances in the personal care range can be absorbed optimally; the skin is nurtured, protected and also perfectly cleaned.
Aqua, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Dicaprylyl Ether, Sorbitol, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Pentylene Glycol, Alcohol, Polyglyceryl -3 Methylglucose Distearate, Glyceryl Stearate, Glycerin, Carthamus Tinctorius Seed Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Peel Oil, Persea Gratissima Oil, Tocopherol, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearic Acid, Palmetic Acid, Xanthan Gum, Citrus Aurantifolia Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia Oil, Limonene, Geraniol, Linalool, Citral


text:
Movie review: 'Amreeka' a fresh look at the immigrant experience
Stick with what you know. That's the rule of every good writer, and one that Cherien Dabis wisely adheres to in her first feature, "Amreeka."
It pays off nicely, too, as the aspiring writer-director vividly draws on her experiences as a first-generation immigrant to fashion a bittersweet ode to the land of plenty.
And by plenty, I don't just mean plenty of liberties and luxuries, but also plenty of obstacles – especially if you're Arab and Muslim like Dabis.
Because the film is based on Dabis' life, there's a palpable verisimilitude that lends intensity to her observations on what it's like dealing with the culture clash, and more poignantly, the racism and ostracism wielded by stupid, uncultured Americans.
Dabis' smartest move, though, is avoiding the temptation to stereotype Americans the same way Americans tend to stereotype Arabs and Muslims, especially since 9/11. In fact, some might say her film is evenhanded to a fault.
Yet it's that lack of vitriol that makes "Amreeka" (the Arabic word for America) so appealing, as Dabis issues a timely reminder that almost all of us descended from immigrants and that our ancestors were probably met with the same xenophobia people like Lou Dobbs champion today.
It's a trite but true lesson that's about to be thrust upon Muna and Fadi Farah, a mother and son who are ready to leave the danger and humiliation of living in the walled-off West Bank to make a fresh start in Toby Keith's good ol' U.S.A.
What ensues is predictable, yet fresh because the fine cast wills it so, especially Nisreen Faour and Melkar Muallen as Muna and Fadi.
Like Dabis, they have lived the lives of their characters, growing up amid the fear and constant turmoil that comes with residing in the occupied territories of Palestine. It's a knowledge that enables them to infuse their characters with a realism that American-born actors simply could not duplicate.
Ditto for Hiam Abbass and Yussef Abu-Warda as Muna's sister and brother-in-law, with whom she and her son come to live with in an Illinois backwater shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
If there's a weakness in Dabis' script, it's the naiveté projected by Muna, who seems surprised by the level of mistrust with which she is greeted on our less-than-hospitable shores.
It definitely weakens the picture, but it could have been a lot worse had Dabis not allowed the story's inherent melodrama to take a backseat to the fascinating relationships Muna forges, as she assimilates to a society that discounts her experience in banking and forces her to take a menial, low-paying job mopping floors and flipping burgers at White Castle.
Faour is superb in these small but telling moments of struggle, convincingly maintaining Muna's undying optimism as she absorbs one degradation after another, while finding refuge in family, co-workers and her son's smitten principal (Joseph Ziegler), who like Muna is a divorcee but unlike her is Jewish.
Although the issues Dabis raises are weighty, she always strives for a light and frothy tone that enables her to make her points subtly, yet powerfully, especially on matters concerning a biased news media and townspeople so ignorant of Arab culture that they immediately assume all Muslims, including their long-trusted family doctor, are in cahoots with Osama bin Laden.
The funniest bits are reserved for Muna's adaptation to America's obsessions with junk food, pop culture and diet fads. The latter proves a particularly fertile source of humor, as the full-figured Muna fights to get slim despite assurances from the oldest of her three Americanized nieces (Alia Shawkat) that she needn't worry about her weight because in the States, everyone is fat.
It's also a place where everyone is open to warmhearted comedy, especially when it is wrapped in as much savvy and intelligence as "Amreeka."
AMREEKA (PG-13 for brief drug use involving teens, and some language.) Cast includes Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallen, Alia Shawkat, Joseph Ziegler, Hiam Abbass and Yussef Abu-Warda. Written and directed by Cherien Dabis. 3 stars out of 4.
The Patriot Ledger


text:
David McCullough defends 'you're not special' speech; we agree
David McCullough defends the 'you're not special' speech he gave at Wellesley High School last week. The English teacher addresses the current 'everyone is special' plague that is not helping students, parents or employers.
Last week, we wrote about an English teacher named David McCullough who gave an unusual commencement speech for students graduating from his Wellesley, Mass., high school. It has become known on the Internet as the "you're not special" speech because that's one of the main tips McCullough passed along to the class of 2012.
"And now you've conquered high school," he said, "and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building... But do not get the idea you're anything special. Because you're not."
Yesterday, McCullough (son of the famed historian of the same name) went on television to defend his message.
"My intention was a little hyperbolic drollness to get their attention so they would be paying attention by the end when I told them what I really wanted," McCullough told CBS news.
Indeed, check out some of McCullough's closing words:
"Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion – and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you're not special. Because everyone is."
I admit to being a bit surprised that McCullough felt he needed a defense at all. His words were refreshing, honest and beautiful. (Except for a few unnecessary digs at my Baltimore Orioles.)
And they were timely.
Because, as the overwhelmingly positive reaction to McCullough's speech shows, we are in the midst of an "everyone is special" plague; one that is not doing any favors for kids, their parents or their future employers.
(Note to the graduate here: At your first job interview, don't tell the boss that you'd like to be in her shoes in three years. Or that you're not the 'office kind of person.' Really.)
In their book "The Narcissism Epidemic," authors Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell have a chapter entitled "Seven Billion Kinds of Special." (This book, I will add, is one of the best parenting reads out there. Even if it's not really a parenting book.) They take aim at the same phenomena that McCullough discussed in his speech and argue that our cultural habit of telling every child that she is special does quite a lot to lower achievement and lessen empathy. (Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman argue a similar line in their popular book, "NurtureShock.")
"Feeling special is narcissim – not self-esteem, not self-confidence, and not something we should build in our children," Twenge and Campbell write. "You can tell your child she is good at math, or that she will be good at math if she works hard, without telling her she is 'special.' Feeling special may give people a grandiosity-tinged sense of comfort, but in a real world of collaborating with others, waiting in lines, and getting cut off on the freeway, it just leads to frustration. And it is unlikely to lead to respect for others."
They note that teens who feel too special – those who really do see themselves as different and special compared to their peers – tend to have more depression and struggle more academically.
Twenge and Campbell make clear that they're not telling parents to withhold love and affection from their kids. Quite the contrary. And sure, your child is special to you. But the overall Lake-Wobegon "everyone above average" approach to raising kids? Not so helpful.
They also explore how counter-cultural the "you're not special" message can be.
"We are a nation fixated on the idea of being the exception to the rule, standing out, and being better than others – in other words, on being special and narcissistic – and we're so surrounded by this ethos that we find it shocking that anyone would question it," they write. "Fish don't realize they're in water."
Which is perhaps why McCullough's speech has gone viral.
Because much of his talk, to me, at least, seems to be calling out some obvious truths:
"You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. ... We have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement."
And that goes well beyond high school students.


text:
|System: PS3, X360, PC
|Review Rating Legend
|Dev: Techland
|1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
|4.0 - 4.4 = Great
|Pub: Ubisoft
|2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
|4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
|Release: June 30, 2009
|2.5 - 2.9 = Average
|5.0 = The Best
|Players: 1-12
|3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
|ESRB Rating: Mature
|3.5 - 3.9 = Good
by Adam Brown
The battle for a great current generation Western-themed shooter has been going on for quite a few years now. Early offerings such as Gun and the original Call of Juarez were good but ultimately had too many flaws that kept them from greatness. Because of this, it has been incredibly difficult to come across a game that both plays well and accurately captures the old West feeling so many gamers have been waiting so long for. Luckily, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood delivers where other Western-themed shooters have failed, combining a beautiful and authentic-feeling Western backdrop with solid action-packed gunslinging gameplay.
Being a prequel to the original Call of Juarez, Bound in Bloods story focuses on filling in the backstory of the McCall family. Starting off fighting for the Confederate Army, Ray (a younger, less religious Reverend Ray) and his brother Thomas are quickly forced to desert their posts in order to attempt to save their home and family from the advancing Union Army. This earns them their first long-term adversary, as their commanding officer, strangely enough, didnt take too kindly to their desertion and continues to pursue them relentlessly. Of course, this man isnt their only antagonist as they also come to odds with lawmen, Apache, and bandits throughout the course of their travels.
Unfortunately for them, the brothers wind up returning home too late to save their homestead and are forced to formulate a new plan. In order to rebuild their home and take back their land, they go in search of the fabled Juarez treasure. The rest of the story Ill leave for you to discover on your own, but know that it is a well done tale of greed, betrayal, and vengeance that will continue to keep your interest and compel you to see the game through to its conclusion.
While much of the insight into the minds of Ray and Thomas is conveyed through a third, whinier McCall brother, William, the game is definitely focused on making the player feel like a gruff, overpowered, and bad man in the old West. This is the case no matter which brother you ultimately choose to control. Except for a few levels at the beginning and end of the game, players are given their choice of brother with which to gun down foes.
Ray is a very strong character who can kick down doors, take more bullets before going down, always keeps a handful of dynamite at the ready, and likes to get up close and personal with his dual pistols. Thomas on the other hand is a bit weaker, quicker on the draw, more agile, and is a skilled marksman with a rifle. Although there are these two options, most of the decision behind your choice will come from which play style you prefer because, for the most part, both characters will play through the same levels taking the same path. Every so often the brothers will be forced to split up, compelling some players to go through the title a second time to see everything, but a majority of the time theyll traverse the levels side by side.
This actually brings me to my only major gripe about Bound in Blood. Since there are two characters that are almost always next to each other and helping one another out, it seems like a huge oversight not to include a cooperative mode. Sure, the A.I. that controls your brother is usually very competent and actually pulls his weight during gun battles, but it would have been great to be able to play split-screen or online co-op with a buddy as well.
Still, the gameplay is very well paced and almost always interesting. Normal gun battles, which are quite fun to begin with, are spruced up with the addition of a concentration mode. Once an onscreen revolver fills from killing enemies, a player can activate this mode which has Ray directing a reticule over any visible foes (Panzer Dragoon style) and unleashing a hail of gunfire and Thomas rapid firing his pistol as quickly as the player can pull down and release the right analog stick as though it were the guns firing hammer. However, until you charge up these attacks, youll likely need to make use of Bound in Bloods cover system in order to stay protected while taking down enemies. Although it doesnt always work perfectly, pressing up against an object will have your character stick to it, giving you the ability to peek around or above it in order to snap off a few quick shots without getting hit yourself.


text:
1-Mattis Justo Quam
1-consectetur. Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor. Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit.
Artistic Approach to Environmental Change
Dr. Jody Roberts.
Location: John S. Toll Science Center
CHESTERTOWN, MD—On Wednesday, Oct. 16, art and science collaborate in "Sensing Change: How Art and Science Work to Communicate Environmental Change," a lecture by historian and scholar Jody Roberts. The event is sponsored by the College's chapter of the scientific honor society Sigma Xi and the SANDBOX initiative. It will take place at 4:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall, Toll Science Center, and is free and open to the public.
Roberts, a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer, comes to Washington College from the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) in Philadelphia, where he serves as director of the Center for Contemporary History and Policy. In "Sensing Change," he will discuss his involvement and experience with a current CHF exhibit of the same name.
Roberts says art can help people better understand the environmental threat of climate change by making it more visually and personally meaningful. "Through the construction of a physical art exhibition, public art installations, and materials such as artist interviews and oral histories with scientists, we aim to show that a different kind of conversation about topics such as climate change might be possible," he says.
Announced in spring of 2013, "SANDBOX: The Washington College Program for Creativity and the Environment," explores our aesthetic relation to the natural world, and examines the social and ecological issues at its core. The program, which is funded by a Mellon Foundation grant, invites faculty members and students from the natural and social sciences to work with those in the arts—music, art, dance and literature—and learn together through creative challenges. SANDBOX also hosts visiting visual or performing artists who come to campus to work with students on creative projects focused on the environment. The first visiting artist, sculptor John Ruppert, is in residence for the fall 2013 semester.


text:
Join now a brand new plane game, one of the most addicting and entertaining, intense plane-shooter action game play in one of the most addictive survival games! This is a special game where a top sniper can shoot and fight by himself with a whole army of planes and enemies! Use your shooting experience and career you have create by yourself in our previous games and start exploring the world of a cruel war. Get ready to fight for your survival and help the people by your own kind to stay away from the bad planes.
Embed this game on your MySpace or on your Website: