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The Aspen Ideas Festival
For the second year, The Atlantic and the Aspen Institute collaborated in July to host the Aspen Ideas Festival, which gathers scientists, politicians, entrepreneurs, religious figures, and others for a week of conversation and debate. Participants contribute provocative ideas from their fields, and discuss the world, both as it is and as it might become. Following are some excerpts from this year's discussion.
on the military and American democracy
Today's all-volunteer force numbers 1.4 million … and about 900,000 in the Reserves. The active forces today proportionate to population are [1]-125th the size of the force that we deployed in World War II. Moreover, thanks to the advances in technology … that extremely small force, measured by historical standards, is extraordinarily lethal …
Blog: Atlantic@Aspen (July 3-9, 2006)
Dispatches from the Aspen Ideas Festival by James Fallows, Ross Douthat, James Bennet, Clive Crook, and Corby Kummer.
The total Defense Department budget today, including the expenditures for Afghanistan and Iraq, is less than 4 percent of GDP—one-tenth of what this economy had to deliver to win World War II. Now what this means in effect is that our society can now deploy history's most lethal military force without breaking a sweat, without making any very deep demands on our manpower pool or the size of our economy. And this, to me, raises very, very serious questions about political accountability and [the] lowering of the threshold for the executive to employ military force without having to engage the deep and durable engagement and agreement of the citizenry at large …
Another asymmetry of very troubling proportions, it seems to me, is [in] the nature of today's armed forces; 42 percent of today's Army enlistees are ethnic or racial minorities—42 percent. In the general population in the eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-old age cohort, nearly 50 percent of people … have had some exposure to college education. In that same cohort in the U.S. military today … the percentage of people who've had some kind [of] exposure to college education is 6.5 percent. So … the vast majority of our society … has in effect hired some of the least advantaged of our fellow citizens to conduct some of our most dangerous business. And I think that is an unstable situation, and one that does threaten, in the long run, the health of our democracy.
on the psychology and politics of terrorism
And, perhaps one of the most moving things … was when Martin McGuinness [the Irish Republican Army leader] started talking about what he'd really, really wanted to do when he was a little boy. He wanted to be a motor mechanic. More than anything else, he wanted to fix cars. And when he was sixteen and he had finished up at school, he didn't go on to do his later exams; he went to the local garage and he said, "I'd like a job." And the guy says, "Don't have a job for you, son." He said, "No, no, I understand you might not have a job. But just, you know, keep me in mind, and when a job comes up—you know." He says, "Look, son, you don't understand. I'm never going to employ you. You're a Catholic."
But that wasn't the really striking bit. The really striking bit was when Martin McGuinness said, "You know, I sometimes wonder: If I got that job, would I ever have got involved in all the things I got involved in subsequently?" Now, for a man who not only runs Sinn Féin but runs the IRA, that is a big statement, a very striking statement.
And what does it say? It says that it's not about whether he got money for being employed as a mechanic, that it would have kept him from getting involved in paramilitarism. It was the humiliation and the disrespect—that was what was absolutely critical.
on the Internet and education
This all … sounds like a gigantic waste of time. If I was competing with the United States, I would love to have the students I was competing with spending their time on this kind of crap … [P]eople are fooling themselves that they're being creative in these spaces … [T]he standard of creativity in the world, to be competitive and be a great designer, is very hard: you have to go to school; you have to apprentice; you have to do hard things. It's not about, your friends like something you did. So I think this is setting a false expectation: you can create your own island and people come to it in a video game … and I don't see any correlation between that and what it's gonna take to be a designer and have a skill set to succeed in the world. So I go back to what I said before: we're amusing ourselves to death; there are good uses of this technology, and I don't see this as a good use of the technology …
[T]he real problem is, by democratizing speech and the ability to post, we've lost the gradation for quality. The gradation of quality was always based on the fact that words had weight—it cost money to move them around. So there was back pressure against … junk …
[U]ltimately, not everyone can have a million readers, because all the readers have run out of time. So it's a false promise to people, that they can get the big audience. Because in the end—once [you've] gotten to the years when you've got a job, you've gotta raise your kids—you're not gonna have time for this.
on terrorism
I think it would be tragically self-limiting. I think the U.S. has far bigger and larger issues in the world that it needs to be concerned with. I believe this issue remains vital. I believe that all the instruments of state that are being applied to prevent the next 9/11—and to take action against those who might one day attempt to perpetrate it—are indispensable and must continue, but it would be a shame if the U.S. and its posture in the world were limited to this one thing alone. The U.S. stands for far more in the world than resistance to terror … I think you are far too [great] a country to be defined merely by the enemies you seek to fight.
on judicial independence
I've lived a long time now. And in my lifetime, I've never seen such very alert criticism of judges as I have seen in the last few years. And we've seen proposals, both in Congress and in state legislatures, that are very surprising in terms of proposing specific action in retaliation against judges who make a decision … which the legislator doesn't like … such as impeachment of any federal judge who might cite an opinion of a foreign court, or the appointment of inspectors general for judges to make sure they didn't make a trip to Aspen that was paid for by somebody, and provisions to cut the budgets of federal courts in retaliation for certain decisions …
We have a proposal in South Dakota, you may have read about, to change the constitution in that state to remove judicial immunity for actions by judges, jurors, and witnesses in cases and to allow disgruntled litigants to then sue the judges, jurors, and witnesses—and even put them in jail, if need be. It's called JAIL 4 Judges …
I hear clapping for JAIL 4 Judges. Well, maybe so. But my concern is that the Framers of our Constitution thought it was of critical, critical importance, in establishing three branches of government, that we have an independent judiciary, at least at the federal level; and all the states copied that model. Their thought was that without that, the provisions of the Constitution … couldn't be enforced.
And look back in history. For instance, the decision of the Supreme Court in the 1950s, which was unanimous at the time, to strike down segregated public schools, schools segregated on the basis of race. That was a very unpopular decision in many parts of this country. If judges had consulted public opinion … we would still be operating with segregated schools.
on kitsch and the crisis of the West
Now, imagine a society in which we ignore the best, in which there is no longer a place for those spiritual absolute values, in which … there is no longer a place for a kind of spiritual identity. The very first characteristic is that, by definition, you get a total subjectivity because nothing is absolute. So everything is immediately reduced to my individual self or your individual self … It's about how I feel, who I am, what my feelings are. It's total[ly] ego centered … And you also get a kind of noncritical attitude—that's to say, you have to respect my taste, and that this is my opinion … And these are my emotions, so please respect them …
In this total subjectivity, and with this lack of spiritual identity, the next consequence—again, by definition—is that an identity becomes completely [dependent] on material things. And so here is where all those yelling advertisements [come] in and are telling us, "You cannot be this or that if you don't buy this car. And you cannot be this or that if you don't buy this watch. And you cannot be this or that if you don't go on holiday to that place," and so on and so forth. So, literally, an identity is something you can buy …
[R]eligion is … about uplifting my religious feelings—I want to be in harmony, I want to be in peace with myself, I want to be in peace with nature, I want peace, blah, blah, blah. But it is not the encounter with God … [I]f you still have the Bible, you can go to the Old Testament, read a little bit about the prophets. They had an encounter with God, and they can tell you, it's not a very pleasant one.
Part of the total subjectivity is also that if I'm the measure of everything, then also—by definition—everything can mean anything, right? So language is no longer the transmission of truth and meaning, but it literally becomes chatter, it becomes talk. And here is where we get our talk shows, right? …
What will happen to art? Art is still important to us, but not as a value in itself, but as … a good investment, [a] kind of commodity. Relationships, also … No real friendship is any longer possible, because the intrinsic value of friendship no longer [exists]. It's all about mutual interest …
What you get is the total utilitarian society. It's all about economics, what is measurable, and material values.
on interconnectedness
I want to end with another idea, which I hadn't thought about [discussing] until right now, which is our interconnectedness … [T]he reason I really got into the work I'm doing goes back to a story … of when I was twelve years old, and my uncle Ed gave me a blue sweater that had animals crossing in the front of it and mountains on the top of it, and I loved the sweater; I wore it all the time.
And one day when I was fourteen and my adolescent body was filling it out in a slightly different way … Matthew Mussolino, who was my nemesis in high school, said to me, in a voice that everybody could hear, a really lewd comment, which made me go home and throw the sweater away immediately, asking my mother how I could ever possibly have worn it. And we put it in the Goodwill, and I promptly forgot about it.
About twelve years later I was jogging in the hills of Kigali, Rwanda, and about twenty feet in front of me I saw a little boy wearing my sweater. And I thought, you know, it couldn't be. [So I] ran up to him—and I'm quite an excitable person—and grabbed the child, turned over the collar, and sure enough, there was my name, [on] his sweater, thousands of miles away and more than a decade.
on education
Education has not been marketed well to young people. We have not made it look fun to be smart. Today, young people have been sidetracked by [the] marketing of music and movies and everything else, but education has no marketing strategy. If we were running a regular business, a regular corporation, you wouldn't provide a great product for which you had no marketing.
We need to find a way that we applaud and celebrate, not only … America's best singer but … America's brightest student.
on America's image in the world
First of all, I think we have to realize … as long as we're in the position we're in, or even when others may acquire some greater parity with us on a military … economic [or] political plane … There will always be times when we will be making decisions that some people won't agree with … [B]ut they need to think that in general we wish them well, and that we are trying to take the world to a place where everybody on earth has a chance to live their dreams and to pursue their faith and to preserve their culture and to make a decent living …
I remember once I was in Sri Lanka, talking to one of the parliamentary leaders of the Tamil Tigers. And we had them on the terrorist list the whole time I was president. And he said, "You know, you had us on the terrorist list the whole time you were president, but I liked you anyway." And I said, "You did?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "Why?" He said, "Because I always figured that you wanted my people to have a fair break here, that you thought that Hindus should be treated fairly." Now, I don't mean to be self-serving … that's the first thing that came on my mind. But the point is … you want people to admire and not to resent America. And when they disagree with us, you want them to disagree with us in the way you have a disagreement within your family or your business … You want them to think, basically, we are the good guys on the right side of the history, and we are pulling for them …
There are two Muslim countries where our standing is better than it was a couple of years ago, and they are both important: one, the largest, Indonesia, and the other, the most troublesome, Pakistan, because it's home to so many Taliban and al-Qaeda sympathizers—and the reasons are the tsunami and the earthquake … I saw this myself. When former President Bush and I took our first [trip] over to the tsunami area … we visited [these] little kids, and part of their therapy—if they had lost their families during the tsunami—was to draw pictures of what they saw. Picture after picture after picture: American military helicopters dropping food, not bombs, dropping ladders to get people out of isolated places.
on immigration
We are working hard on getting control of the borders. But we cannot get control of our borders until we do something about … a man or woman who is making fifty cents an hour in Mexico and can make ten bucks an hour in the United States, for a job that Americans will not do; until we have a system that allows them to come here. We don't have enough people to stand across the bottom of the border and stop them. We just don't …
Every bit of evidence we have is that people do not come here in order to stay in America … But we are making it so difficult to get here that what happens is … you scrape together the money to get across the border, you get across the border, you get a job … you can't go home. [It's too] tough to get back and forth. His little sister gets married, he can't go home, it's too difficult to get back and cross the border … can't go home for holidays, can't go home for family. You wake up, you've been here for five or ten years, and you say, "I've got no connection in that dusty little town in the interior of Mexico. I am staying."
Who should be surprised at that? What we ought to have is a system that allows him to keep those personal connections, to travel back and forth across the border freely during the time that they are in the United States legally …
Let me say one more thing: there are a lot of really good people who are scared to death about immigration, and we shouldn't be surprised about it. First of all, because it always happens. I've been reading sort of the pre–Civil War history, and boy, talk about—you know, the Mexicans in those days were the Irish … You should hear what politicians in the Midwest said about [us] Norwegians when we were coming in: "root eaters." I mean … they didn't like us. This happens, and I understand that. But … we are a great country and have been able to assimilate people from all kinds of backgrounds, from all parts of the world, because we've emphasized a shared language, a common tradition … Look, with all … respect, there's no Filipino dream, there's no Japanese dream, there's no Italian dream. But there is an American dream. And some guy standing on a street corner in Addis Ababa knows what it is about.
on diplomacy
I don't believe that we are involved in a clash of civilizations. But I do believe that we are involved in a battle of ideas. And that is a very important distinction, because it requires us to really put forward what we believe in and engage in a dialogue.
Now, when President Ahmadinejad wrote to President Bush, it was a horrible letter, and I never thought that President Bush and [the] president of Iran should become pen pals. But I do think, if you look at the letter, in addition to all of the terrible language and saber rattling, there were some very important points—about social justice, about America's role, a variety of issues.
And even as I was at the rather peculiar meeting we had at the White House, between the president and the "former people," as I call us … I did suggest to the president that somebody at a very high level needed to give a speech to respond to what was in that letter.
on awakening to art
My mother … was the daughter of Mexican immigrants in a working class, never had much education, but she loved poetry. And she had been educated in the public-school system at a time when they still made people memorize poems, and her own father had liked poetry—he was a vaquero. And so she had all these poems by heart.
And I think my earliest awakening—in an ugly, poor neighborhood in Los Angeles—to what art was, was just to hear my mother recite these things. For years I didn't understand that sometimes by reciting them, she was telling me something about her life she couldn't tell me directly; she was expressing the sorrows of her life, in a way.
But the poem of hers that I remember most vividly her reciting was "Annabel Lee." And I just hear,
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee …
And this opened up … a kind of hunger on one hand, and an awareness on the other, that probably took me twenty, thirty years to understand … But I realized right away … that beauty kind of stopped me dead in my tracks. I mean, the nun would play a record of Chopin, and everybody else would be poking each other with pencils, and I would be there like [sound of rapt awe].
And so, I knew that I wanted to go wherever this stuff was. There was no signpost in my neighborhood; there was nobody who'd gone to college or did this. And so in my own way I kind of groped, over the next ten to fifteen years, largely through music, which is the only art that the poor are offered training in, in this country. And … I became first a musician (I wanted to become a composer), and then I eventually became a poet.
But it seems to me it's that awakening to the full potential of what your life might be—beyond the possibilities your own family, your own class, your own race, your own neighborhood gives you—which is one of the great human gifts that art affords.


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Harry Styles Launches Beauty Line
'One Direction' alum Harry Styles covers Dazed Magazine and, in the pages within, talks about his new "life brand" company, Pleasing.
Calling Pleasing's first offerings a "curated line of products that speak to the celebratory beauty sensibility that Styles is known for," Dazed recounted that the line got started with nail polish, "because," Styles said, "that was kind of the birth of what it was for."
"Me seeing a color on a flower or a wallpaper or something and thinking, 'Oh, I wanna put that on my nails'," the singer went on to say. "It was a fun little project, but during the pandemic, and when we eventually named it Pleasing, it felt like it was so much more than nail polish."
Fashionista hailed Pleasing as "the only celebrity beauty brand we're actually excited about," noting its "range of nail polishes, an illuminating primer serum and a dual-purpose eye and lip oil."
Styles vows that the new brand will be eco-friendly, with "as small of a carbon footprint as possible," Billboard detailed, but it's also something he sees as a thank you to his fans.
"I am blessed to have fans who are so supportive of me, who believe in freedom and who have created this safe space for each other. Pleasing is really for them."
According to Fashionista, "The brand's positioning seems to be intentionally broad and open for innovation and category expansion," Fashionista related, adding that "its mission is 'to bring joyful experiences and products that excited the senses and blur the boundaries,' with an aim of 'dispel[ling] the myth of a binary existence,' per a press release."
But fans of the 27-year-old singer, or of high-end beauty products, or both, won't want to dally since the company has announced that its initial wares will be "released in three stages and limited quantities."
"The products, which are already available for pre-order ahead of their official launch on Nov. 29, will retail for between $20 and $65," Fashionista detailed.
The Dazed interview followed Styles behind the scenes of the cover shoot, detailing how the fashion-forward star — who's known for his gender-expansive take on style — was presented with, and agreed to, various ideas for how he'd be dressed and photographed.
"He immediately grabs an angelic cream look of a Rick Owens webbed sweater, a Galliano corset, and a Comme des Garçons kitten heel from the splatter of Polaroids affixed to the wall," the article said. "A psychedelic Prada jumpsuit complete with Swarovski choker is another favorite, and a Balenciaga look with top-hat aplomb is quickly greenlit."
"At ease in front of the camera, he slips from one look to another, each more fantastically concocted than the last," the article reads, going on to add: "It's a far cry from the vision of the fairly sheepish Harry Styles from One Direction: 16 years old, with a mop of curls."
Styles confided that it's the "small moments" in life that stick with him, "in terms of sparking something wonderful in me," and saying he intended for his company's products to offer a similar sensation to their users.
"I really think that the essence of Pleasing is finding those little moments of joy and showing them to people."
Related Story

subset: commoncrawl


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[Vanessa Blum]
The line of lawyers waiting to enter appearances at Friday morning's hearing before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer extended well beyond the bar.
First came plaintiffs attorneys representing Hewlett Packard's shareholders and employees in various suits over the company's botched 2011 acquisition of the British software firm Autonomy.
Next, a parade of defense lawyers stepped up from AmLaw 100 firms including Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Cooley; O'Melveny & Myers; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on behalf of HP executives and board members.
Once the lengthy roll call ended, Breyer quipped, "That's it?"
Clearly, the group needed organizing and Breyer focused Friday on housekeeping matters, particularly the selection of plaintiffs lead counsel.
It was the first hearing in the wave of litigation that followed HP's November announcement of an $8.8 billion write down related to the Autonomy deal.
"It's important that these actions be coordinated. They are all related. They all deal with some of the same issues and they have all been placed in this court," Breyer said. "You can't escape. You're stuck with me for good or ill until the end of this litigation."
Firms vying for lead role in the shareholder class action tussled over whose client held a larger financial interest in the litigation, which gives that party the presumptive status of lead plaintiff.
San Diego partner Blair Nicholas of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman insisted the biggest loser designation should go to a coalition of pension funds represented by his firm and Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check.
The group, which includes public retirement funds in Oregon and Oklahoma and Dutch pension funds manager PGGM Vermogensbeheer, "not only has the single member with the largest losses, but the group itself has the largest losses," Nicholas said.
Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer New York partner Frederic Fox begged to differ.
"When you look at who has the single largest interest here by many different measures it is the Virginia retirement system," Fox said, referencing his firm's client.
Serving as lead counsel is a coveted position and usually leads to a greater share of attorneys fees.
Breyer did not rule, though he seemed inclined to select a single institutional investor over a collective.
Taking the opposite approach would encourage lawyers to sign up more and more clients to create the largest conglomerate, Breyer said.
Then again, he noted, trying to ascertain the largest investor depends on which accounting method is used.
"I've always thought the calculation of loss is extraordinarily difficult in a market situation," Breyer said. "My view is you'll never know. It's the inexactitude and the vagaries of the market that make it so difficult to ascertain."
Moving on to derivative actions, where investors sue officers and directors on behalf of the company, Breyer said he would likely give Burlingame-based Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy the coveted role of lead counsel. Principals Joseph Cotchett and Mark Molumphy represent a Silicon Valley investment advisor and pledged to bring together an inclusive committee of lawyers to assist with case.
Not too inclusive, Breyer cautioned.
"I don't like committees," he said. "Committees are ways of vast sums of money waltzing out the door."
Breyer's favor toward Cotchett seemed to ruffle Maya Saxena, a name partner at Boca Raton's Saxena White. Saxena, lawyer to the City of Birmingham Retirement and Relief System, seeks to share the lead counsel role with San Diego-based Robbins Arroyo.
"It sounds as though your honor has his mind made up," Saxena began.
Breyer was jovial and told Saxena he could still be persuaded: "I can change my mind. I don't even know half the time what my mind is."
Finally, Breyer addressed lawyers from firms pursuing ERISA actions against HP, asking them to sort out for themselves which lawyer would be lead counsel.
Following the hearing, a crowd of lawyers pushed into an elevator. Instead of heading down as expected, the car shot up, leading one attorney — hopefully on the plaintiffs side — to crack a joke about the beleaguered Palo Alto tech firm.
The faulty elevator, the lawyer quipped, must be working on an HP operating system.


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I am often asked by patients what can a man do to raise his testosterone level without taking testosterone replacement therapy? Here are a few suggestions that may be helpful.
- Exercise and lift weights
If you want to increase your testosterone levels, you will need to increase your exercise frequency. Regular exercise will not only help you by preventing different lifestyle related health problems, but it will also help you by boosting your testosterone levels. Men who regularly exercise have a higher testosterone levels. Even elderly men will also have higher testosterone levels if they regularly exercise.
Reduce stress and cortisol levels
If you are suffering from long-term stress, it can increase the levels of cortisol hormone. If your cortisol levels are high, testosterone levels will decrease.
That's why, you need to reduce stress as much as possible and which will also decrease the cortisol levels in your body. Regular exercise, whole foods, good sleep, balanced lifestyle and laughter can help you to reduce stress and also improve your overall health.
Get more Vitamin D
Vitamin D offers several health benefits and it boosts testosterone naturally. If you consume just 3,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day, it can increase testosterone levels in the body by 25%.
You can get more vitamin D by increasing your exposure to sunlight regularly. You can also take a daily supplement of 3,000 IU of a vitamin D3 supplement.
4. Get Enough Sleep.
A lack of sleep affects a variety of hormones and chemicals in your body. This, in turn, can have a harmful impact on your testosterone.
The time honored goal is try for 7 to 8 hours per night.
5. Keep a Healthy Weight.
Obesity can have a deleterious effect on your testosterone levels. Exercise and diet can improve your testosterone and also is good for your heart to avoid obesity.
6. Review Your Medications.
Some medicines can cause a drop in your testosterone level. These include: pain medications, steroids (prednisone), anabolic steroids such as those used by athletes and body builders, and anti-depressants.
7. Deep 6 the Supplements.
You may be bombarded with unsolicited snail mail and E –mail offering testosterone boosting supplements such as DHEA. Let the truth be told, you are wasting your money as these supplements will not boost your testosterone.
Bottom Line: Although these suggestions are helpful, they are just a step in the right direction. For more information about testosterone replacement therapy, speak to your physician.


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The United States has numerous Christmas traditions, ranging from elaborate decorations to re-gifting lame gifts like fruitcakes. While these are broad traditions, embraced by millions of Americans, there are also narrower traditions. One such tradition is the Fox & friends holiday ritual of claiming that there is a war on Christmas.
Gretchen Carlson and State Representative Doreen Carlson lit the ritual hyperbole log (not to be confused with the Yule log) near the end of November 2012. After discussing what she took as the latest evidence in the existence of the war, Carlson closed with "a lot of people, for whatever reason, will look at this interview today and say, Gretchen Carlson and Doreen Costa are nuts. They're so nuts because they think there's this made up war on Christmas. We're not nuts, are we? There is a war on Christmas!"
While it is very tempting to dismiss Carlson and her fellows on the grounds of some sort of insanity, I will not do this. I do not think that she is insane. However, I do think that the war on Christmas is made up, in the same way that Santa is made up—only with a rather less pleasant intention behind the fiction.
While the term "war" gets thrown around so excessively by Americans (we have wars on everything, including actual wars on actual people) that is has become worn and shoddy, I will endeavor to present a rough account of what would be required for there to be a war on Christmas.
Roughly put, a war would seem to indicate a conflict with breadth and intensity. In terms of breadth, a true war typically would require a reasonable broad front, either literally or metaphorically. After all, a few sporadic episodes of violence that take place far from each other would hardly count as a war. In the case of the alleged war on Christmas, there would need to be battles occurring across adequately broad areas of the country as opposed to extremely limited numbers of isolated incidents. Not surprisingly fine folks at Fox traditionally make use of the hasty generalization (a fallacy in which a person draws a general conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not adequate in size) to create the impression that the few examples of what they claim are incidents in the war are actually general occurrences. Naturally, one should not take my word for this. If it really matters, a person can create a war map and plot out the locations of the alleged incidents to determine if they constitute a large enough number to count as a war. This can be done my imaging each incident as a fight proportional to the incident.
In terms of intensity, a true war (as opposed to a cold or false war) would seem to require a level of conflict that would intuitively match what is expected in war. If, for example, soldiers on opposing sides exchange taunts and occasionally throw rocks at each other, that would hardly seem to be a war. In the case of an actual war on Christmas, what would be needed would be attacks on Christmas of sufficient intensity to be considered warlike aggression against the holiday.
In general, Fox tends to point to incidents of the "intensity" discussed by Carlson and Costa. In Rhode Island, where Costa is a representative, the governor held a holiday tree lighting, rather than a Christmas tree lighting. Fox also points to cases in which Nativity scenes are not allowed to be displayed on state property, such as in front of or in government buildings. Incidents in which people say "happy holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" are also taken as evidence of the war. On the face of it, these incidents do not seem intense enough to count as warfare.
There is also the fact that is blindingly obvious that Christmas itself is not under attack (other than the usual commercialism that corrupts the very heart of the holiday). After all, Christmas is not only completely legal, the overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate it and almost all Americans participate in some way (my atheist and non-Christian friends have never turned down a Christmas gift nor a Christmas dinner). Christmas trees, Christmas cards, Christmas goose, Christmas lights, Christmas carols, Christmas services and so on are also completely legal and unhindered. It would take a strange epistemology indeed to believe that there is a war on this beloved and almost universally practiced (in America) holiday.
But, one might say, what about the fact that state officials, like the governor of Rhode Island, have "holiday tree" lightings. What about public schools having "winter breaks" rather than "Christmas breaks"? What about Nativity scenes not being set up in federal court houses? Are these not evidence of a most vile war on Christmas?
The obvious answer is "not at all." One should be careful to note that what is occurring is that the state is simply not giving special treatment to the holiday of a specific faith (although Christmas seems to have extended way beyond Christianity) with the main focus being on the religious trappings. So, for example, trees, snowmen, Santa Claus and so on seem to be fine on state grounds. Baby Jesus, not so much. However, this is no more a war on Christmas than changing "chairman" to "chairperson" is a war on men. It just means that one specific faith is not getting special treatment denied to other faiths. Not always getting what one wants and not having one's faith enshrined by the state is hardly the same thing as a war on Christmas.
What would an actual war on Christmas look like in America? That is easy enough to answer. From 1659-1681 the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston. This was not the work of anti-Christians, but due to the Puritan opposition to Christmas on religious grounds. While New England is now famous as a Christmas place, the celebration of the holiday did not come into vogue until around the mid-19th century, at least around Boston. So, Fox, until people start banning Christmas across regions of the country again (or worse), talk of the war on Christmas is just annoying and divisive hyperbole. Worse, it gets people who have weak critical thinking skills upset, worried and angry and that is not the sort of holiday spirit that is right for the season. So, for the sake of the Christmas spirit, stop engaging in this foolishness.
My books make excellent gifts, especially for the fine folks at Fox.


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When I talk about my reasons for going on a long hunger fast for Climate Justice Fast people look at me like I'm crazy and I'm reluctant to correct them because fasts are difficult to explain. But I will explain, again. Before the hungerstrikes, my life belonged to the bay. My dad and his Dad and his Dad were commercial fishermen so I was the daughter of a son of a son of a son of a fisherman. Then, too, growing up on a Texas bay and having a Cherokee grandfather who liked talking with the dolphins and spotting moon signs in the sky before night turned to day made me into something of a mystic. I remember being out on the shrimp boat with my daddy and feeling my skin stretch and thin like fog, leaving gaping holes that the waves and wind would run into and the sea would fill until my blood was so thick with salt that I could taste it on my tongue. At night, we anchored in a far far bay where sea horses hid under the rocks and pink sea birds dined on oysters and I'd lay on top of the wheel house with a blanket up to my nose, and it was like going to bed with a hunk of seaweed and deck load of shrimp and fish and crabs. I didn't need a sleeping pill. The smell knocked me out.
I learned a lesson or two on the bay. How to spot shrimp from a mile away. (Look for the sea gulls!) What does a watermelon smell on the bay mean? (trout just threw up) How to tell if a squall was gonna knock your boat over or lay down as harmless as a kitten. (anybody's guess) But the best lesson that came home to roost was that boundaries were lies. There was no separation or division. No brick wall that divided San Antonio Bay from Esprito Santo Bay. Nothing to keep the sky from the water or the wind from the sea. Nothing to keep one person from a billion others. There was just flow and continuity of water and moon and dolphins and ratty ole captains in ratty ole shrimp boats hauling boogie across the bay to find those most elusive shrimp.


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NC considers plan to allow SC tribe's casino
Casino would be built near state line
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's administration is considering an agreement to allow a South Carolina-based Indian tribe to open a casino near the state line.
Cleveland County Commission Chairman Ronnie Hawkins said officials in his county met in July with a senior economic adviser to the governor to talk about a potential casino operated by the Catawba Indian Nation.
Hawkins said the site along Interstate 85 south of Kings Mountain could include a casino, hotel and other retail businesses.
A representative for McCrory would not talk about the possibility because the project is still under discussion.
A representative for the Catawbas denied the tribe is seeking to operate in North Carolina.
The project would require a gambling compact, which McCrory could authorize without lawmakers' approval.


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Merry Christmas to you, dear friends!
May your holiday season be full of peace and joy!
I haven't had a chance to make many holiday cards this season
But wanted to share this Vintage Christmas Card
Before the big day arrives!
As you can see,
I was in the mood for something a little more subdued
Than the traditional holiday glitz.
Here are the Art Challenges for this card:
Celebrate The Occasion #93 – Christmas Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiment Challenge Blog – All That Glitters
Creative Craft Challenges 2 – Non-Traditional Christmas
Holly Jolly Christmas – Vintage Christmas
House of Gillie Challenge 48 – Add Sparkle
Ladybugs Craft Ink Challenge Blog – Anything Goes At Christmas
Songbird Challenges – Merry Christmas Everybody
Vitorine Originals Challenge 49 – Non-Traditional Christmas
Are you a Legend Lover?
My beautiful boy is featured at
Wordless Wednesday!
Have fun perusing everyone's workspace this week!
For More Creative Inspiration
Subscribe To Create With Joy
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One common bug that people are running into with Fedora 16 is that CUPS is no longer enabled after upgrade from an earlier version of Fedora (fresh installs are unaffected).
This has already been reported in Bugzilla, and a test update is available.
There is also an Ask Fedora answer about it.


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Rummer Homes + Mod Fun
"If I could turn back time." That's a sentiment Cher sang famously, but most of us have had the feeling at one time or another. Well, the weekend of June 2-3 will be our collective chance to turn back time to the mid-twentieth century with a tour of Rummer Homes and a retro slide show by Americana kitsch-expert Charles Phoenix.
The home tour and the slide show provide a double dip into an authentic mid-century style that predates Hipstamatic, Instagram, Mad Men or Dwell magazine. Phoenix's slide show is chock full of Kodachromes – originals he's found at thrift stores and yard sales, not smartphone photos digitally altered to look old.
The Southern Californian pop culturist will be giving his appreciative, humorous take on favorite mid-century marvels of Americana, including his "Best of Portland" guide of local landmarks, legends and lore. (Preview: according to his website, Charles raves, "Portland is one of my fav cities to explore. Americana abounds here! I can't wait to have a 'Dutch baby' at the Original Pancake House then go skating at Oaks Park, the "World's Biggest Roller Rink!'"
"Rummer homes" (or "Rummers" as they're often known in the Portland area) were essentially the Portland versions of a now-classic mid-century modernist house type built by the successful developer Joseph Eichler in Southern California. Rummers blend indoor and outdoor spaces and share many other Eichler-type features. (So did many other homes of the time, including the house that Steve Jobs grew up in and remembered fondly, according to Walter Isaacson's recent biography; evidently Jobs and Isaacson thought the pre-Apple-ite's childhood home was an Eichler, but it was not.)
A typical Rummer is also a veritable mullet of residential modernism: business in the front (closed and private wood walls and garage, recessed entry door), party in the back (floor to ceiling windows opening to landscaped garden). Wooden post and beam construction supports the vast walls of glass facing garden spaces and central, open-air atrium. Flat roofs cover the one-story spaces except where a central gable will pop up and create a high-ceilinged, clerestory-lighted main living space.
These houses are much revered, well built and amazingly adaptable to various sites, living styles and even décor. The houses on the tour (there will be at least eight open) are all in the Bohmann Park tract of the Garden Home district of metro Portland; the neighborhood boasts the highest concentration of Rummer homes in the metro area. Within four blocks, Rummer built 63 of his houses in the mid to late '60s.The open houses on the tour will include Robert Rummer's own house, and he and other homeowners will be available to guide us visitors through these fab spaces.
Historic Preservation League of Oregon
$40 per ticket (HPLO Members $35)
Saturday, June 2, 10am – 4pm
For more on Rummers, see historian Jack Bookwalter's interesting article, Rummers in Oregon: A Builder's Legacy of Mid-Century Modern Homes.
Slide show by Charles Phoenix is 3 p.m. at the Hollywood Theater; tickets $30 ($20 for HPLO members); save $5 if you get the package deal of house tour plus slide show tickets.


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Women with curly hair often think that there is a limited range of hairstyles for them to choose from. It is true that naturally curly hair often gives one limited styling options, but with the advent of different hair styling technologies that allow more flexibility even with curly hair, women with this kind of hair now have more freedom in how they want their manes styled.
Short Curly Styles
Short curly styles, once the rage in the 80s, are making a stunning comeback. This style is suited for confident women who are willing to take the wild and sexual side of a curly mane in a length that they can control. However, this style will not work for everyone. Women who are confident about having most of their face exposed, flaws and all, can work this hairstyle well. Curly bobs are good for work as well. They give women a chance to show off their curls but also allows for some degree of control.
Long, Loose Curly Styles
Women with long, loose curls have more options to work with. Loose curls are glamorous and give off a carefree vibe. Naturally loose curls can be achieved with a product that enhances the curls in the hair. It can also be enhanced by putting the hair in a braid for several hours to get that a natural, curly wave. For work, women with loose curls have a lot of options to choose from, from putting the hair up on a high ponytail, tucking the hair into a bun, letting a few loose whips out for effect, or doing the top half up of the hair up while letting the rest fall down for a classic look.
The Cropped Curly Style
The cropped curly style is something only a few women can pull off but this style does make a great statement on someone who knows how to work it. In cropped, curly hairstyles, the haircut is short and works great on young women with fine facial features and small ears. This will flatter women with an oval-shaped face. When styling, one can use styling cream or hair wax to work through the hair, applying very small amounts of the product on the fringes in the front. This is the perfect wash and go style, making it suitable for busy career women who still want to sport a sexy and stylish do.
Straightened Styles
Some women want to straighten their naturally curly hair to break away from the monotony. A few minutes under the blow dryer using a round brush can straighten the hair for the day. There are longer-lasting ways to keep hair straight such as hair straighteners that keep hair smooth and straight for up to 6 months. With this hairstyle, one can actually choose a varied range of cuts designed for straight hair.
Contrary to popular belief, women with curly hair have varied hairstyles to choose from. Curly hairstyles were thought to be hard to control and not suitable for work but there are ways of styling curly hair to make it ready for the office. Women with naturally curly hair also now have the option to try the various hairstyles available to women with straight hair once they have their curly manes smoothed and straightened.


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YOUTH BASEBALL: American Legion beats VFW
WAYNESBORO — American Legion defeated VFW, 12-4 in a Waynesboro Youth League baseball game on Monday.
Legion scored in the second inning when Trent Oyler reached on an error and scored on Liam Coulter's single.
In the top of the third, Legion plated two more runs. Bryce Shaffer singled and scored on an Ethan Lowman single. Oyler plated Lowman with a double.
VFW scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Laken Rouzer walked, Aiden Campbell singled, and then Ryan Heinbaugh plated both with a double.
In the fourth Derec Urey singled, Campbell doubled and Heinbaugh singled to score Urey.
American Legion put the game away in the fifth with the help of six walks and doubles by Coulter and Dylan Rhodes.
In the bottom of the inning VFW plated one more run when Sam Moore led off with a triple and scored on Urey's single.
Ben DeWease picked up the win going the distance giving up seven hits while fanning 12.
VFW was led by Campbell (3 for 4) and Heinbaugh (2 for 4, 3 RBIs).
Coulter had three hits for Legion.


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Here's the latest article from the Fish site at BellaOnline.com.
Aquarium Product Review - Betta Shakerz
This is a great addition to your Betta fish's healthy diet!
Please visit fish.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Fish.
To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Fish located here -
I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!
Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!
Mary Brennecke, Fish Editor
One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com


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Hubwoo is a global leader in providing a smarter way for buyers and sellers to search,
connect, and collaborate. The Business Network eliminates hurdles to productive
business commerce, enabling buyers to source smarter, buy smarter, and pay smarter,
and sellers to market smarter, sell smarter, and invoice smarter.
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Having a great time in Spain
What's up from Spain, everyone? Wow … Europe is just a completely different world. We are having so much fun. Lots of food and drink as you can imagine. I'm definitely going to have to work out some when I get back, but who am I kidding? We all know that isn't going to happen (haha)! So far we have been to Madrid, Seville and Barcelona doing what I love best: taking in some bullfights and hanging out with the bullfighters. I actually got in front of a bull, too. It was a baby one, but still enough to get your heart beating fast. It is pretty scary and it got me in the knee with its head. My knee is a little swollen right now, but I can't show anyone around here I got hit because it's a little embarrassing.
Other than that I'm going to try and watch a soccer match live, either a Barcelona or a Madrid game. The stadiums are amazing here with close to 100,000 fans screaming and yelling. It is something I need to check out.
Hope you all are doing well back in the U.S. I'll be back in Chicago soon enough and I will need to catch up on the playoffs as well as the Bears. I try to watch them as much as I can on Sundays even though I don't know the game that well.
And that reminds me: What's up with the NBA lockout? I want to go to some games this winter. Man, do I love basketball. Anyways, I will see you guys soon and I just wanted to check in and say what's up and share some of my vacation with you all!


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Finally, an article that punctures the infuriating cottage industry that has sprung up around French women telling us Americans that we too can be "naturally thin," if only we had the self-control to stop stuffing our faces with MacDo.
The BBC reports that French women come in all shapes and sizes too, but feel extra pressure to fit in with their country (and the rest of the world's) ideal of the Parisian waif. In fact, according to a plus-sized woman named Isabelle interviewed by the BBC, being fat can even lead to job discrimination:
"It's how it works for women here," Isabelle explains. "If you are fat, you will not get that job. But if you have the silhouette - chic, ultra-slim, elegant - you are more or less made."
Isabelle is an all-too-rare exception to the rule - she is actually quite fat - but, being self-employed, she can get away with it, she says. Isabelle likes being overweight in a society that is so obsessed with thinness and conformity.
Sustainable beauty
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Holy merde. And what's more, the French thinness ideal has become a burden that Gallic women have taken on, after all of their gains in French society. According to Sonia Feertchak, editor of L'Encyclo Des Filles:
"Women have come so far in France - we have a political voice, good childcare, access to work - but instead of being more confident we are increasingly obsessed with our weight and shape.
"Coco Chanel freed us from the corset more than 80 years ago - but we have fallen for a mental one instead - a silhouette of supposed perfection that is unattainable and leads to eating disorders and misery," she adds.
So stop listening to today's head of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, ladies. There's more to being a woman in soon-to-be 2014 than attaining an impossible standard of thinness. If French women can't do it, perhaps that'll help American women realize that they too don't have to try so hard.
There are some more priceless quotes in the BBC piece (like the list of French euphemisms for being fat. Did you know that enrobee is used to describe a woman "richly-coated in her own body mass"?). But I'll leave you with this WTF statement, from one Marjorie:
Marjorie works near the Paris suburb of Saint Denis where there is a large immigrant population from the Maghreb.
She is inspired by these women with their full, rounded, curvaceous figures and the way they walk tall.
"They are so much more feminine than our Parisian chic," she says, "but the sad truth is that if they want careers in this society they are going to have to get skinny to get ahead."
They probably have to be white too, Marjorie, but that's a story for another day.
Image via Shutterstock


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Hi everyone,
Laine here with my Saturday inspiration project.
I came across this hot plate holder at a yard sale and just had to buy it. I also knew exactly how I wanted to alter it.
For all the details for this altered project head over to my blog.
Just a reminder that our challenges always finish on the last day of the month which means you still have plenty of time to join us.
You can find Mr. Linky for the current March Challenge on the side bar. Head back on the 4th to see the winners for the March Challenge and on the 5th to see the brand new challenge for April.


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Estate Planning
By naming the OHSU Multiple Sclerosis Center as a beneficiary in your will your generosity will be a lasting legacy for future people with multiple slcerosis. The OHSU Development Department and local attorneys can help you with your estate planning and also minimize taxes on these gifts.
There are many creative ways to accomplish this generous giving:
Bequests: Gifts by will or revocable living trust may be for a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your total estate or a residual amount remaining after all specific bequests and expenses have been paid.
Beneficiary Designations: By naming the OHSU Multiple Sclerosis Center as a beneficiary of retirement plans, life insurance policies, transfer-on-death accounts and commercial annuities you can control your funds during your life and avoid income and estate taxes on your death.
Life Income Gifts: This gift allows you to make a significant contribution while protecting or improving your personal financial situation. These gift plans provide income for life, an immediate income tax deduction and the potential for reduced estate taxes. The most common life income gifts are charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts.
Real Estate with Retained Life Interest: A gift of a remainder interest in real estate allows you to transfer ownership while retaining the right to live in your residence for the remainder of your life. An income tax reduction is available for a portion of the value of the real estate. It is also possible to convert the retained life interest to a stream of income.
Giving to the OHSU Multiple Sclerosis Center via these or other gift vehicles can give hope to those with multiple sclerosis and at the same time avoid excessive taxes.
More information
For more information about charitable giving, please contact:
Maddy Abulencia
Associate Director of Development
Sarah McIlveen
Director of Major & Special Gifts


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Life at № 42 by E.M. Coutinho
"Sean Spicer, White House press secretary for President Donald Trump, told reporters on Thursday that the administration is pushing for a 20% border tax on Mexican imports. "When you look at the plan that's taking shape now, using comprehensive tax reform as a means to tax imports from countries that we have a trade deficit from, like Mexico," Spicer said, according to a White House pool report."
Full text: Sean Spicer: Trump considering 20% tax on Mexican imports – Business Insider
This is the funniest one yet. And just goes to show the importance of understanding logic. Tariffs are ultimately paid for by the final consumer. A "border tax", as Spicer put it (I imagine to make it sound like Mexicans handing over money at border crossings), translates to an increase in prices to the American public. That affects merchandise across the board. Consider that in the globalized world, your car, for example, might be put together in one country but it has parts from all over the world.
no place is safe now 😦 I do hope someone snipped all of the wires in that "nuclear football".
5,000 dead US troops, 250,000 mentally or physically handicapped. US ought to get the oil for $5 a barrel. Problem with US foreign policy is we make other countries rich with American "hero" blood. Actually they are mere cannon fodder for the capitalist system and not fighting for freedom.
So you think Iraqis benefitted from the war?
exactly. and what's (even more if that's possible) ridiculous, is we don't need the oil. it's just a power grab.
-sigh- we knew the building was going to be bombed, but it's still sad watching it crumble bit by bit.
Oddly enough, the one thing I do approve is the US withdrawal from the TPP. We here in Australia were more than a little worried about the TPP because we felt that US corporations were the only ones to really benefit. Now they won't, and I'm very, very glad. Free trade is not free when the biggest bully in the school yard dictates the terms – take it or leave it.
You're probably right about the corporations, but there are always collateral effects that benefit the people at the very bottom of the pyramid- meaning very low income consumers. A "poor" person 30 years ago had nowhere near the amount of options they have today, from food to clothing to furniture.
Mmm…I guess a lot of that will depend on your definition of 'poor'. Here, the TPP would have made it much harder and more expensive for poor people to gain access to medicines, for example.
Bottom line, I do NOT want my government to hand over any sovereign rights to a multinational corporation just so we can sell wheat or some other commodity, to the US.
You know, I never would have believed I'd become such an anti-corporation person. When I first read Kim Stanley Robinson's sci-fi novels, I thought his plot device of making the corporations the 'villains' was interesting but much too unrealistic. There were laws against that sort of thing. How could they possibly get away with it? Hah. The man was waaaaay ahead of his time.
P.S. It was that under TPP corporations could litigate against anyone preventing them from taking profits that was utterly objectionable. So, if you prevented an oil company from building a pipeline because it polluted a river, then they can sue you for damaging their earnings potential regardless of the fact they would have been breaking environmental legislation had they gone ahead.
Things like that can and should be off the table. It's possible to create free trade without abuses.
Of course they should be off the bloody table, but the corporate democrats were going to sneak TPP through with it in situ, which is another reason why they got what they deserved at the election and now need to reconstruct themselves with a progressive agenda. https://justicedemocrats.com
"The Pink Agendist, née Mr. Merveilleux
January 26, 2017
So you think Iraqis benefitted from the war?"
Well I think US killed a million of them just like in Vietnam and most may not feel they got a good deal. For me I did not care if Saddam had WMD's or not or that the suggestion was a lie for Bush to invade. Saddam ruled with terror over the people. One way was the use of RAPE ROOMS. Can anyone imagine the horror of such things ? For that reason alone I justify a regime change. If one no longer has to worry about rape rooms or a family member being "disappeared" I'd say Iraqis got a good deal. But another US inconsistency is our alleged war on drugs. Afghanistan produces 70% of world's opium and heroin is cheaper and more available in US than ever since our presence. Hmmmm ?
No that is a horrible climate. Radical Islam is making war on its own people. It deeply troubles me and saddens me.
He also said that "unless Mexico is going to treat the United States fairly, with respect, such a meeting would be fruitless, and I want to go a different route. We have no choice."
Has he realised that threatening to take your bat and ball and go home unless everyone lets you get your own way isn't the same as asking to be treated fairly and with respect?
😀 He is such a lineal thinker, he doesn't seem to have the ability to think around corners, it's a straight line to what he wants and everyone will give in with enough bullying. Unfortunately for him politics is very different from business.
Now the news is reporting that his 20% means some essential items, like avocado (ha!), will be terribly affected and suddenly it is just an idea, not a policy. Has he not realised that a real leader doesn't just say whatever pops into their head, they think it through and take advice. Oh, sorry, see point one again… 😀
I have to say, this worldwide resistance to him has entertained me greatly, so much so that I have opened a Twitter account just to make it easy to listen to the constant chatter! Such amusement… 🙂
But is he really? Or is it all just a game?
@ PInky 'But is he really? Or is it all just a game?'
I remember watching a video by Michael Moore in which he basically said that Trump was just playing but…that was fairly early in the campaign, back when no one really thought the Donald had a chance. Now, I think Metan is right. I think Trump is high on power and the sense that he's unstoppable. As such, he's blurting out things that do betray his core thinking. If you look at his business dealings, bullying his way through to success is his signature modus operandi. Sadly, he's not as smart as he thinks he is, and that does not bode well for any of us. 😦
I don't doubt that it is something of a game to him, his father bought him up with the attitude that the only possibilities are being the winner or being one of the losers, and being a winner was the only acceptable outcome. Right now he is probably shouting to those personal demons "Look, I'm the leader of the world!! I won everything!!".
He seems to be so desperately insecure, as we've seen with his focus on ratings, popularity and crowd numbers etc, that I believe that now he has embarked on this track he won't allow himself to lose face by taking a step back. The spectre looms of years of presidential decisions made on the fly purely to save face rather than benefit his country. As for being a lineal thinker, have we seen any evidence of tricky thinking?
Of course you could be right, it is possible we aren't seeing what an evil genius he is and we're all going to find out this buffoonery is part of the longest con in the world. (Really long. And so tricky. The trickiest. I have the best tricks ever. You won't believe the tricks I have.)
I mentioned to the kids the other day (while we watched another of his staged signing events on the news) that Trump now seems to have his dream job, he sits at a desk and people clap when he signs something. It's the same job as before, but with more admiring minions.
Loving the airport protests blowing up the internet today after his Muslim ban, and amazed that he is saying it is going well while protestors are filling the concourses. Wish I was a fly on the Oval Office wall, does he really think it's going well, or is the voice in his head repeating "find a happy place, find a happy place…"
You're right regarding the linear thinking- my point was more on his intentional deception/manipulation. His Crooked Hillary chant was nothing more than a chant. And a 90 day Muslim ban is nothing more than a stunt. What could happen in 90 days to "resolve" middle-eastern terrorism?
You might be giving him credit for more craftiness than he is capable of! I don't think the Muslim ban is just a stunt, I doubt he would intentionally risk the chance of having to backtrack on something like an EO, it's too obvious when he does, and that fragile ego isn't up for public humiliation. He said he would do it during the election, and here he is, satisfying his fans.
No reason to think it isn't a manipulation as well though, he still has to deal with China and Mexico, this is a none too subtle "look how hardline I am, you don't want to mess with me" before they do. Really don't think China will be intimidated though, not looking forward to the consequences of that one-upmanship.
The problem with reports like this is that they're speculation until something official happens. This could be anything from testing out domestic reaction to serving as a hard-line position to begin negotiations on something. Yes, it's ridiculous, and it's also dangerous considering Mexico is supposed to be an ally. If our foreign policy will do this to friends, the U.S. won't have friends.
Now I won't even be able to escape to Mexico because of this asshat.
The whole 'Building a wall' is total lunacy. The Mexicans don't want it and won't pay for it. Plenty of Americans don't want it and yet may be made to pay for it. There will be a loss of trade from visitors from the Mexican side leading to job losses. So much for Trump's promise to increase employment.
It's not even that simple. Watch Mexico let the illegals cross their southern border from South America and help them cross the border into the US.
Here's the thing: I could have possibly gotten on board with a wall/fence. There is a point to be made that those crossing the border illegally are…well…doing it illegally, that they shouldn't be allowed to circumvent the proper channels of legal entry to our country. Countries do have immigration policies for a reason. So it isn't so much the idea of securing the border, it's the means and rhetoric by which he's chosen to do it. Belittling, insulting, and denigrating an entire society and/or ethnicity of people just isn't it.
It already was working toward that end. That's why people come here from Mexico; largely for work.
But hey, kill their economy and build a wall to keep them out. That sounds like a great plan. Suddenly I'm conjuring images of beggars at the palace gates being offered the crumbs from the king's table.
Well, to be fair, crumbs for mowing your lawn first 😉
Trump walked that back just as quickly as Spicer could get it out there. He seems to be doing the same thing in presidency that he did in his campaign; throw shit against the wall and see if it sticks. He tests the temperature of the waters with these "leaks" and then either forges full steam ahead or walks it back depending on whether he thinks it'll pass based on the response. Similarly, instead of picking up a damn phone and calling a foreign leader or state governor or city mayor he tweets out some vague
policy ideathreat and waits for the poor sap to come groveling to him. It's all part of his negotiation strategy. He seems to think it gives him leverage. smdh…
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According to the Czech news site Blesk.cz, LAMB OF GOD frontman Randy Blythe appeared in court shortly before 10 a.m. today for a hearing in connection with the death of a fan more than two years ago.
Blythe, who was arrested Wednesday (June 27) at the Prague airport on manslaughter charges, was reportedly released on 4 million Czech Koruna bail (approximately $200,000 — an amount which, according to the site, Randy claimed was the equivalent of his annual income). Since most banks are closed this weekend, Blythe will be allowed to pay off his bail on Monday (July 2). The singer, who did not speak at his hearing and was "timid as a lamb," was considered a flight risk by the judge. Photos and video footage (see below) of Blythe in court show him wearing an OBITUARY sweatshirt and American flag hat. For safety reasons, he also had his shoelaces removed while he was in the pre-trial detention cell.
LAMB OF GOD guitarist Mark Morton — who, along with the rest of the band, is in Prague, tweeted a few hours ago, "Today just turned into a FANTASTIC day!!!"
Blythe, 41, who was represented by two lawyers in court, is accused of causing the fatal injury that occurred at LAMB OF GOD's May 24, 2010 show in Prague. The singer apparently either pushed or struck a 19-year-old fan named Daniel who had come on stage, and that person died 14 days later of bleeding in the brain.
According to WTVR-TV, another Czech online news site, Aktualne.cz, has published statements from a witness — a friend of the victim — who said the fan wasn't using drugs or alcohol and fell back directly on his head. The victim lapsed into a coma and died two weeks later.
The crime of which Blythe is being accused is punishable by up to ten years in prison, according to popular Czech news web site Novinky.cz.
LAMB OF GOD was scheduled to perform on Thursday at the Rock Café in Prague with SKELETONWITCH and ALL SHALL PERISH but that show ended up getting canceled.
LAMB OF GOD's publicist, Adrenaline PR, issued a statement yesterday stressing that "under no circumstances was there a fight of any kind involved [during LAMB OF GOD's 2010 concert]. This incident deals with a fan that three times during the concert jumped the barricade and rushed Randy during the performance. It is alleged that the third time, security was not able to reach him and that Randy pushed him back into the audience where supposedly he fell and hit his head."
Video footage and a photo of Randy in a Czech court earlier today can be seen below.
Source: www.blabbermouth.net


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It's turkey day and it's family day and there's going to be a lot of food and there's going to be a lot of downtime. So you can either head out to the multiplex (and if you are, check out our list of what movies to see/not see) or click on Netflix and try to choose something that will satisfy everybody. Let's run through some scenarios that you might encounter today or this weekend.
You want to see Catching Fire, but don't want to brave the crowds.
Just watch The Hunger Games again.
You sort of want to see Catching Fire but are annoyed by the fact that it's PG-13.
Okay. Just watch the movie that some of your more pretentious friends keep saying The Hunger Games is ripped off of — Battle Royale. The 2000 Japanese movie presents a world where the government randomly chooses young students to send to an island where they must kill each other to survive.
A bunch of your male family members are sitting in the living room but there's no football currently on.
Watch the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall, or the fourth installment in the Tom Cruise spy franchise, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. (The only film of the four that is not available online is the Brian De Palma–directed first one. However, all seven seasons of the original TV show are available to stream.)
A bunch of your male family members are sitting in the living room but there's no football currently on and you don't want to watch an action movie.
It's been a while since you all cried together, but in a manly way, so just throw on Brian's Song, the 1971 James Caan/Billy Dee Williams–starring drama about the friendship between two Chicago Bears and what happens when one of them gets cancer. You could also try The Longest Yard, the 2005 remake of the 1974 "playing football in prison" movie starring Burt Reynolds. Adam Sandler takes the lead role in this one. One final choice is Undefeated, the 2011 Oscar-winning documentary about a Memphis high school football team.
Everyone's in the mood for a dumb, new-ish movie that they don't have to pay too much attention to.
You could give the Gerard Butler-starring Olympus Has Fallen, the first (and most successful) of this year's "White House gets attacked" movies. Or, if you want a love-drenched romance, there's this year's Safe Haven, starring Julianne Hough and directed by Lasse Hallström from a Nicholas Sparks novel.
Everyone wants to watch a "good" movie.
There's the Best Picture–winner The King's Speech, starring Colin Firth as the stuttering King of England. Or there's the Best Picture–winner The Artist, which is a silent black and white comedy. And if your family doesn't mind foreign films, the 2011 film The Intouchables, about a rich white quadriplegic and his young black caregiver, is one of France's highest grossing movies ever.
There's a bunch of teenage boys that need to be corralled.
Throw them in the family room, lock the door, and put on any of the Marvel movies currently streaming — The Avengers, Thor, or Captain America: The First Avenger. If the boys are on the older side, and don't mind a little blood, there's the Karl Urban–starring remake Dredd, the old-guys-kick-ass sequel The Expendables 2, the 2011 remake of Conan the Barbarian, or one of the Ahnuld-starring originals — Conan the Destroyer.
So … many … kids …
Netflix Streaming has a very robust kids section, but if you want some reliable options, there are several Disney movies on: Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, The Fox and the Hound, and Robin Hood non-Disney wise, there's Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the Dakota Fanning–starring Charlotte's Web.
Everyone wants to watch a Christmas movie.
Just watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.


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8e. The Killing Of Uala
Early on the morrow the hosts continued their way to Glaiss Cruinn ('Cronn's Stream'). And they attempted the stream and failed to cross it. And Cluain Carpat ('Chariot-meadow') is the name of the first place where they reached it. This is why Cluain Carpat is the name of that place, because of the hundred chariots which the river carried away from them to the sea.
Medb ordered her people that one of the warriors should go try the river. And on the morrow there arose a great, stout, wonderful warrior of the particular people of Medb and Ailill, Uala by name, and he took on his back a massy rock, to the end that Glaiss Cruinn might not carry him back. And he went to essay the stream, and the stream threw him back dead, lifeless, with his stone on his back and so he was drowned. Medb ordered' that he be lifted out of the river and his grave dug and his stone raised over his grave, so that it is thence Lia Ualann ('Uala's Stone') on the road near the stream in the land of Cualnge.
Cuchulain clung close to the hosts that day provoking them to encounter and combat. And he slew a hundred of their armed, kinglike warriors around Roen and Roi, the two chroniclers of the Táin.
Medb called upon her people to go meet Cuchulain in encounter and combat for the sake of the hosts. "It will not be I," and "It will not be I," spake each and every one from his place. "No caitiff is due from my people. Even though one should be due, it is not I would go to oppose Cuchulain, for no easy thing is it to do battle with him."
The hosts kept their way along the river, being unable to cross it, till they reached the place where the river rises out of the mountains, and, had they wished it, they would have gone between the river and the mountain, but Medb would not allow it, so they had to dig and hollow out the mountain before her in order that their trace might remain there forever and that it might be for a shame and reproach to Ulster. And Bernais ('the Gap') of the Foray of Cualnge is another name for the place ever since, for it is through it the drove afterwards passed.
The warriors of the four grand provinces of Erin pitched camp and took quarters that night at Belat Aileain ('the Island's Crossway'). Belat Aileain was its name up to then, but Glenn Tail ('Glen of Shedding') is henceforth its name because of the abundance of curds and of milk and of new warm milk which the droves of cattle and the flocks yielded there that night for the men of Erin. And Liasa Liac ('Stone Sheds') is another name for it to this day, and it is for this it bears that name, for it is there that the men of Erin raised cattle-stalls and byres for their herds and droves
The four of the five grand provinces of Erin took up the march until they reached the Sechair in the west on the morrow. Sechair was the name of the river hitherto; Glaiss Gatlaig ('Osier-water') is its name henceforward. Now this is the reason it had that name, for it was in osiers and ropes that the men of Erin brought their flocks and droves over across it, and the entire host let the osiers and ropes drift with the stream after crossing. Hence the name, Glaiss Gatlaig.


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Dear Monty: How to pick a real estate agent
By Richard Montgomery
More Content Now
Reader question: We are going to sell our home. We know a number of real estate agents. Twenty years ago we sold a home, and it was not a good experience. Do you have any tips about how to pick a good agent? Roger and Mary Ann D.
Monty's answer: The right real estate agent can make a difference in the quality of the experience, because buying or selling a home may be the largest and most complex financial decision you make. Consider interviewing three pre-screened agents in the process of making your decision.
Identifying the candidates
Attending open houses in your neighborhood to interact with agents to pre-screen candidates and at the same time, see property on the market first hand. How well is the property presented? How well do the agents present themselves? You will eliminate agents simply observing them work at open houses.
Call the agents you know. Tell them you are selling your home and ask if they will answer a few questions you will email to them. Most of them will agree. Send the questions listed below and see how many returns you receive. Some agents will eliminate themselves when you employ this tactic, which is a positive development. If they are reluctant to answer questions interviewing for a job, what can you expect later?
An important decision
Interviewing multiple agents before choosing one also applies to buyers and sellers with "a friend in the business." Because of the key role your agent will play, focus on the qualifications and services the agent can offer over and above the fact that they are a friend or a nice person. Select an agent and the company that has the knowledge, skill and services to assist you in saving time and money. Select the person who best provides their time, quality answers and data you need to make informed decisions with confidence.
What to look for in the interview
Invite the agents to meet where you are most comfortable, or sometimes, you can ask questions at a "slow" open house. Asking follow-up questions to their email answers offer you a chance to observe them in action. It also inspires meaningful dialogue.
When asking questions, focus on how well the agent listens, how willingly they answer and the quality of their responses. While personality is a factor, quality advice and quality time are of utmost importance. You will be surprised by the differences in the answers you receive.
Some questions to ask
Look for clear, logical answers to each question you ask. A quality answer that conveys sincerity, trust and honesty is a definite plus.
1. What sets you apart from other agents?
2. What type of ongoing training do you receive?
3. How does company support benefit your customers?
4. What is your position on home inspections?
5. What happens to us when you are on vacation?
6. Can you provide three recent references?
7. What is your company's record for market time and rate of listings expiring unsold?
8. What service does your company offer that is not offered by other companies?
9. How do you establish your opinion of value for a home?
10. How do you find your customers?
11. Does your company have a satisfaction guarantee?
12. How quickly and often can you furnish market data updates on new listing, sales and more?
13. Why should we choose you to represent us?
14. Do you prefer returning customers telephone calls in person or by email?
15. If a homebuyer asks what a home they are interested in is worth, how do you answer?
16. Do you have an assistant or assistants? If so, what is their role in the service you provide to us?
17. Do you have other information you want to add you feel would help assure your selection?
18. How proficient are you at gathering information from the MLS system?
19. Do you have a favorite customer service experience that you can share?
20. What is your real estate credential number?
One last tip
It should take a true willingness to serve, a high level of competency and good company support to become your agent. The answers should be right for your situation and "tested" early. Trust, but verify. A promise made during a conversation requiring agent follow-up should be noted, reminding you to verify the follow-up occurred. No follow-up is a harbinger of things to come. Your efforts here will help you select with confidence.
Richard Montgomery gives no-nonsense real estate advice to readers' most pressing questions. He is a real estate industry veteran who has championed industry reform for over a quarter century. You can ask him questions at DearMonty.com.


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Business continuity risk integral to internal audit role has been saved
Press releases
Business continuity risk integral to internal audit role
Press release
04 June, 2015 - Risk, governance, globalization and technology are among the many risks currently facing companies. Internal Audit plays a critical role in addressing these issues while contending with the challenge of complying with the updated Committee of Sponsoring Organizations' (COSO) Internal Control-Integrated Framework, which is a widely used framework around the world, in which internal control is broadly defined as a process, effected by an entity's board of directors, management, and other personnel, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives relating to operations, reporting, and compliance.
This and many other pertinent issues were explored when the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Qatar Chapter hosted its 5th National Internal Audit Conference under the theme 'Auditing Matters'. The event, which was sponsored by Deloitte, took place over three days from May 31 to June 2 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Doha, and drew more than 30 international speakers to present a full program of speaking sessions, panel discussions, workshops and training.
Each day was dedicated to a specific theme, with day one focused on 'Internal Audit's role in enhancing the control environment', followed by 'Internal Audit's role in assessing Risk Management and the Control Activities' on day two, and 'Internal Audit's role in assessing information and communication' on day three. Sessions also explored a value driven Internal Audit of Business Continuity and Disaster Discovery programs, discussed the role of Audit & Assurance in Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS), a value driven approach to focus on what matters, and effective evaluation of BCMS performance.
"Many businesses are not yet leveraging the full potential of Business Continuity," said Fadi Sidani, partner and enterprise risk services leader at Deloitte Middle East. "However, internal audit can play a prime role in turning Business Continuity into a real driver of change, and as a way to measure and improve processes and operational efficiency. It can be a true value creator."
On day three the topic of how data visualization helps decision-making to be faster and better in Internal Audit Analytics was presented.
"Just as the business landscape is changing and becoming increasingly complex, so Internal Audit is moving toward leveraging advanced business analytic techniques to provide deeper insights," explains Sidani. "Data visualization tools are a compelling way to deliver results more dynamically in response to risk, explore organizational data on a deeper level, and deliver acute fact-based insights."
IIA Board Chairman Mr. Anton van Wyk began the conference by expressing his gratitude on behalf of the profession of Internal Auditing for the support given by the Government of Qatar. A number of government ministers were in attendance, including HE Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Chairman of the Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development and Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, who gave the formal opening address. HE Sheikh Bandar bin Mohamed bin Saud Al-Thani, President of Audit Bureau Qatar, was the first keynote speaker and addressed a message to all the audience on the importance of internal auditing.
Press contact
Nadine El Hassan
Middle East Public Relations
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)
Tel: +961 (0) 1 748444
Fax: +961 (0) 1 748999
About Deloitte
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a more detailed description of DTTL and its member firms.
Deloitte provides audit & assurance, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries and territories, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and high-quality service to clients, delivering the insights they need to address their most complex business challenges. Deloitte's more than 200,000 professionals are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.
About Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) and is the first Arab professional services firm established in the Middle East region with uninterrupted presence since 1926.
Deloitte is among the region's leading professional services firms, providing audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services through 26 offices in 15 countries with more than 3,000 partners, directors and staff. It is a Tier 1 Tax advisor in the GCC region since 2010 (according to the International Tax Review World Tax Rankings). It has received numerous awards in the last few years which include Best Employer in the Middle East, best consulting firm, and the Middle East Training & Development Excellence Award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).


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Board Config
Board Config files describe configuration settings that are specific to a given circuit board, external of the CPU, CPLD, or FPGA.
Currently Supported Hardware
The following is a list of all of the currently supported board hardware. Clicking on the config file link will show you the code and provide an analysis (when one exists):


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Phew, I am back from the woods of Maine where there was no internet service. It was painful to not have internet. I don't even have it on my phone. You are feeling my pain, right? Anyway, I have lots to tell and pictures to share, but I need to 'tame the beast' first. The beast would be the mess of my house and the laundry that has finally arrived via Pony Express from Blogher. I did want to leave you with the best quote that a friend of mine's 4 year old conjured up while we were in Maine.
"Mommy, who created people? God or Barack Obama?"
Monday, August 10, 2009
Notable Quoteable
Brought to you by As Cape Cod Turns at 12:02 PM
Labels: kids are funny
8 comments:
- Evansmom said...
Where in Maine were you? I always find it interesting to see where those "from away" (as we Mainers call them) deem the backwoods of Maine or way up Maine.
Of course, I can't say too much as I now live in "Northern Massachusetts" aka southern Maine!
Hope you had a great time - the weather was great!
- August 10, 2009 at 1:52 PM
- Manic Mommy said...
God made them. Barack makes them better.
- August 10, 2009 at 5:16 PM
- SurprisedMom said...
And you answered . . .
- August 10, 2009 at 9:11 PM
- As Cape Cod Turns said...
Ha! Wasn't my kid, so I didn't have to answer!
- August 10, 2009 at 9:23 PM
that is AWESOME. I like Manic Mommy's answer best :) I missed you! Welcome home!
- August 10, 2009 at 10:28 PM
- ♥ Braja said...
I think it was God.
And yeah, I'm feelin' your pain :)))
- August 11, 2009 at 8:33 AM
- Caution/Lisa said...
Congrats on your win!!
Life w/o internet is miserable. Glad you survived!
- August 11, 2009 at 9:10 AM
- Mrs4444 said...
Poor thing, you. Don't know how I would have survived. Welcome home!!
- August 11, 2009 at 11:45 PM
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If you know the basics of SketchUp, this book will show you tools and techniques used by the best designers. Detailed, step-by-step exercises will guide you every step of the way, from working with digital images, advanced component creation, modeling in context with Google Earth, sectioning, styles, sketchy edges, presentation, animation, sandbox, additional resources, and more.


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2 workers hurt in gas station explosion
Officials: Workers were working on underground tank
Two workers suffered serious burns Monday in an explosion at a gas station in Manchester, N.H.
Officials said the workers were injured in the tank fire at a Mobil station on Hanover Street.
Fire Chief James Burkush said the men were part of a five-person crew re-lining the interior of a diesel tank. Two men were inside the tank using a chemical agent to affix a fiberglass material to the sides of the tank.
Officials said they believe a light hanging at the entrance to the tank fell, and the electricity ignited the fiberglass and the affixing agent.
The men in the tank suffered life-threatening burns and were flown to Boston. Officials said the men are 24 and 33 and are from South Carolina.
Officials said the incident appears to have been contained to the interior of the tank, and fire didn't spread to the rest of the station.


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I have just discovered this "challenge" when I saw blogging friend Tish had put in a post, and it is a beauty, such happy smiling faces. (Take a look at it here).
So it has intrigued me.
I enjoy following along with Yvette and love her street portrait themes so when I noticed she was the guest blogger for Paula I couldn't resist joining in.
Sorry folks I am a day late…
When taking photos for a post about my suburb of the Gold Coast, Burleigh, this stranger saw me pointing my camera in her general direction and started a happy, spontaneous dance. I just love it…
Further around and along the beach front this lovely lady in the coffee nook saw me point my camera and gave me a big smile and the victory sign. (This is part of a Monday walk with Jo).
I may be home for a while so will enjoy joining in these challenges.


text: CONTENTdm Collection : Item Viewer HOME BROWSE ADVANCED SEARCH PREFERENCES MY FAVORITES ABOUT CONTACT add to favorites : reference url back to results : previous : next JC Sparkman TitleJC Sparkman DescriptionCable pioneer J.C. Sparkman (left), Executive Vice President of Tele-Communications, inc. (TCI) with Tom Oliver Date original1990s Decade1990s SubjectsCable television--History--PhotographsCable Television PioneersTele-Communications, Inc. (TCI)Cable television--ColoradoCable Hall of Fame PeopleSparkman, J. C.Oliver, W. Thomas CollectionTCI Photograph Collection IdentifierTC00080 Formatimage/jpeg Date digital2015 Physical description5 x 7 inch b&w photograph Holding institutionBarco Library, The Cable Center CopyrightThis image is issued by The Cable Center. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of The Cable Center's Barco Library. All responsibility for questions of copyright that may arise in the use made of reproduced material provided by the Barco Library must be assumed by the user. The Barco Library will provide any information it has available to the user. Ordering informationmailto:[email protected] add to favorites : reference url back to results : previous : next contact us ^ to top ^ © 2009 Barco Library, The Cable Center


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registration number
Words nearby registration number
How to use registration number in a sentence
"Our members continue to face a number of challenges," she said.The Republican War on Kale|Patricia Murphy|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of dissenters though is unprecedented in the modern era.Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup|Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Starting under Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft, embassies headed by career diplomats increased in number.
The number of diplomats was pitiful (45 appointees in 1860), as was the amount of money allocated to them.
Jett sees this number as a marker of how much the president allows professionals to do the job.
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages.Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
We had six field-pieces, but we only took four, harnessed wit twice the usual number of horses.
There are a number of bacilli, called acid-fast bacilli, which stain in the same way as the tubercle bacillus.A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Five of the number had studied with Liszt before, and the young men are artists already before the public.Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
I do not think the average number of passengers on a corresponding route in our country could be so few as twenty.Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley


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Facilitates content sharing with other organisations by simplifying the location and packaging of document sets for easy distribution
Provides recipients with their specific documents in a self-contained OnBase viewing system, all on a single CD/DVD/Blu-ray
To learn more about the wide range of OnBase ECM functionality, click here.


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Decco Integrated Amp & Era Design-4 speakers for PC Review
Audio/Speakers&Amps by KeithSuppe @ 2008-11-07
Signal Path Technologies is now known for bridging the abyss between PC and High End Audio. This they have accomplished with the Decco, a 50wpc hybrid tube/chip-amp with internal DAC. They also design and build Era loudspeakers. Today we evaluate both.


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Brooklyn-based Orlando Dominguez of GIN Art & Design debuted his simple yet gorgeous lamps, whose bases are made of recycled 45 vinyl record, at the recent annual New York Design Week.
We love the way the light shines through the gaps between the disks, picking up the colors in the vinyl—the glowing columns of light look almost like cut glass. [Inhabitat]