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In truth, we did invite the boys, but they didn't want to come! Jack would rather stick pins in his eyes than spend an afternoon browsing in shops and Roddy, although an excellent companion when one needs a little retail therapy, had a myriad of things he wanted to do at home. So after plenty of grey and damp days the sun finally returned last Saturday and the girls and I set out for Saintes, leaving the male element to fend for themselves.
The instant the title "For Ladies Only" popped into my head, something else also came to mind, it made me immediately think of my great grandmother's autograph book from the late 1800's, known as her 'writing album'. Such books were traditionally exchanged amongst friends, often cousins and distant relations, to be filled with poems, drawings, personal messages and small pieces of verse. I am fortunate enough to be the guardian of two of these little volumes; the drawings are exquisite and some of the writing is incredibly amusing, I will share them with you at another time for they really are great treasures. But for whatever reason, it was the entry below that I thought of; I have read it many times and it never fails to make me smile!
These few words have caused much debate here as there is no 'Stewart' in our family history, and this makes me think this note was obviously written by a friend in 1889. Throughout the books the notes are from both males and females, so here's a question for you – do you think this was a lady voicing her opinion of men, or vice versa? We're split down the middle at home. But whichever way you look at it, these little books happen to be a wonderfully convenient reminder of how much I value history in our modern world, a value that is amply demonstrated throughout France by the evidence of the past on every corner of every street, in virtually every town and village.
Saintes has a history that goes back to Roman times, one of the things I love most about this city is the way that contemporary shops rub shoulders so comfortably with ancient Roman columns and historic buildings; so often differing architectural styles can be at odds, but here the old structures loom over the modern parts of the town, continuing to play the same roles they have starred in for centuries, where streets have echoed to the sound of so many different voices.
Saintes has a population of around 27,000 inhabitants, and it's been a busy town since before those Roman times, when the indications are that it existed as an important Celtic town; and because of its gallo-roman, medieval and classical heritage, Saintes is officially listed as a 'Ville d'Art et d'Histoire'.
We parked the car and wandered along the narrow roads towards the centre of the town, most of which lies on the west bank of the River Charente.
Back in those far-off Roman days, Saintes was the first capital of Aquitaine. Today Saintes remains an influential commercial city, influenced not only by its continued transportation links, but also thanks to its important administrative, industrial and public service sectors and because of its past, Saintes is also a major tourist destination.
One of the few complete Roman arches outside of Italy, the Arch of Germanicus was a gesture of triumph built by a common citizen that was was originally constructed at the entrance to a bridge crossing the river. In 1843 the arch was actually moved 15 metres along the quay when the old bridge was demolished but it still remains today in much the same state as when it was first put together in 18 and 19 AD.
Christmas is coming of course, so all along the banks of the river, wooden chalets have been imported ready for the festive season, (here this does not kick off until the first weekend in December), and the earth is waiting for the dozens of Christmas trees which will be temporarily planted. By the weekend this will all be buzzing with activity; we were a week too early, but it's a good excuse to return!
Sitting in an imposing position is the Galeries Lafayette, one of France's largest retail chains. It has four floors of fashion, make-up, children's clothing, toys and home decor and I suspect the four of us dallied a little too long amongst its offerings.
It was Millie's suggestion that we take a right hand turn off the pedestrianised cobbled street and walk down to the library; "It's fabulous" she said, for she had been here a couple of weeks ago doing some research with a couple of school friends. This area is a classic example of the ancient and modern co-exisiting in perfect harmony, the audiovisual library sits alongside the former Convent of the Jacobins.
Continuing along the narrow streets between houses dating from the 17th to 19th centuries
we passed a small pre-school, the Ecole Maternelle Les Jacobins.
Dominating the view from almost anywhere in the town is the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Saintes. The rather different dome on the tower is a result of economics, as the planned spire proved too costly for the funds available at the time!
The Musee du Presidial is a fine arts museum built in 1610 and houses paintings of the XIXth and XXth centuries, and a collection of Sèvres china; it also holds many temporary art exhibitions.
As dusk was starting to fall we crossed back over the river
and stopped at the Archaeological Museum which is sadly closed at the moment; however we were able to peek inside through openings covered in old wooden latticework.
This museum has an interesting collection of Roman lapidary, including columns, capitals, architraves and bas-reliefs, and the rare metal remains of a ceremonial axe from the late 1C are also on display.
Lastly, Saintes is also home to a complete Roman amphitheatre, built in the 1st century AD. The amphitheatre originally seated 15000 people and although we have visited this on many previous occasions, we didn't have the time to do so today; we were dining at a friend's house and had to rush to get home and change. There were apéros around a glowing fire and a delicious meal followed; fabulous fun, great company, and a wonderful start to any weekend.


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Source: McClatchy
(N.B.: when we use the frame 'gun control', our message fails; when we use 'reduced gun violence', our message succeeds.
It might also be noted that as the First Amendment does not protect the dissemination of child pornography; the Second does not protect unlimited access to firearms of any type.)
Author: David Lightman
Why is it so hard for even the most modest gun-control effort to succeed?
The easy answer is the power of the gun lobby, but the obstacles are far more complex. Growing numbers of people distrust Washington. A deeply rooted gun culture sees big government as a threat to its security, not to mention its constitutional rights. Members of Congress from conservative areas are well aware that votes on gun control, even in baby steps, are politically perilous.
Gun control advocates thought their task would be so different this week. President Barack Obama was making a passionate, heartfelt pitch unlike almost any he'd made before during his presidency. A congressional colleague, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who was severely wounded during the Tucson shootings two years ago, visited the Capitol to make her plea. Families of recent shooting victims visited senators and watched them vote.
But what began as an energetic effort to finally get something new on the books wound up in defeat after defeat, and on Thursday the bill was pulled. There's no telling when it will return or what might change if it does, because switching votes is going to require changing some profoundly held views.
The biggest hurdle is overcoming the long-simmering, ever-growing public fear that government is too intrusive and incompetent. That attitude almost scuttled the 2010 health care law, as people resented government forcing them to buy coverage. People also became concerned that "death panels" would be created to determine who'd live or die.
They weren't, but Republicans have tried nearly three dozen times to repeal the law, which will require nearly everyone to obtain health insurance next year or pay a fine. More government intrusion, they say.
The resistance to more gun control follows a similar pattern.
"There certainly is an erosion of trust and confidence in the competence of government," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of four Republicans who voted to toughen background checks. "People often don't trust government to protect them, and there's a very distressing lack of any confidence government will keep its word."
A Pew Research Center survey this month found that only 13 percent of Republicans have favorable views of the federal government, compared with 27 percent of independents and 41 percent of Democrats. Gun rights advocates argue that if Washington wants to gain some trust, it should enforce the laws that already are on the books.
"More gun laws are not the solution," said Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. And when gun control advocates try even to tinker with gun laws, they tinker with what Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called "the depth of feeling about the Second Amendment."
Millions of Americans grow up with guns in the home, for hunting, self-defense and other uses. "In northern Maine, guns are part of the lifestyle," Collins said.
Learning to use a gun is as common as learning to drive a car or use hand tools, and any effort by Washington to infringe on that right is viewed with suspicion. That's why even a mild form of gun control – expanding background checks to gun shows and online sales while exempting private transactions – got nowhere.
"People see it as the nose under the camel's tent," former Senate Republican leader Trent Lott said. "They ask, 'Where does this end?' "
Add to this mix some raw politics. Of the five Democrats who voted against expanded background checks, three face difficult re-elections next year: Montana's Max Baucus, Alaska's Mark Begich and Arkansas' Mark Pryor. North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp, whose state Obama lost last year by nearly 20 percentage points, joined them. So did Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, though he voted no only for procedural reasons.
While polls suggest that the senators' re-elections probably won't be won or lost on gun issues, gun interests are well-heeled and offer a simple explanation as to why the background check plan was misguided.
"Expanding background checks, at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools," said Chris Cox, the executive director of the Institute for Legislative Action, the political and lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association.
Change is especially difficult in this age of polarization. An NBC News analysis found that 39 of the votes against the expanded background checks came from senators in states that Obama didn't carry. Two of the swing votes who sided with the opponents, Nevada's Dean Heller and New Hampshire's Kelly Ayotte, both Republicans, were from states that Obama won.
If a gun control measure makes it to the House of Representatives, the red-blue state divide is likely to be more obvious. Republicans control 233 of the 435 seats there, and districts often are so carefully drawn that most are downright politically monolithic.
Will the gun control forces' task get any easier? They say yes, that as people become more educated, as Obama presses harder, as the victims' families keep up the heat, people will come around.
It won't be that easy, said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who explained, "It's very hard for someone from a gun culture to vote for gun control." Email: email@example.com; Twitter: @lightmandavid
Again, vote for 'reduced gun violence', not 'gun control'!
Emphasis Mine
See: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/19/189101/history-culture-mistrust-combined.html#emlnl=Weekly_Politics_Update

subset: commoncrawl


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At a dinner party that will forever be green in the memory of those who attended it, somebody was complaining not just about the epic badness of the novels of Robert Ludlum but also about the badness of their titles. (You know the sort of pretentiousness: The Bourne Supremacy, The Aquitaine Progression, The Ludlum Impersonation, and so forth.) Then it happily occurred to another guest to wonder aloud what a Shakespeare play might be called if named in the Ludlum manner. At which point Salman Rushdie perked up and started to sniff the air like a retriever. "O.K. then, Salman, what would *Hamlet'*s title be if submitted to the Ludlum treatment?" "The Elsinore Vacillation," he replied—and I find I must stress this—in no more time than I have given you. Think it was a fluke? Macbeth? "The Dunsinane Reforestation." To persist and to come up with The Rialto Sanction and The Kerchief Implication was the work of not too many more moments.
This is the way, when discussing Rushdie and his work, that I like to start. He is sublimely funny, and his humor is based on a relationship with language that is more like a musical than a literary one. (I here admit to my own worst plagiarism: invited to write the introduction to *Vanity Fair'*s "Black & White Issue" some years ago, I took advantage of Salman's presence in my house to ask him to riff on the two keywords for a bit. He free-associated about everything from photogravure to the Taj Mahal, without a prompt, for about 30 minutes, and my piece was essentially done.) And this is a man whose first language was Urdu! Toward the end of the Second World War, George Orwell wrote to his friend Mulk Raj Anand to predict that one day there would be a whole category of English literature written by Indians. Today, no literate person has not absorbed a novel by Vikram Seth or Arundhati Roy or R. K. Narayan or Rohinton Mistry, and for most European and North American readers the breakthrough moment came when Salman Rushdie published Midnight's Children, in 1981. Here was someone born as a British colonial subject who had annexed the proudest part of the Raj's dominion—the English language itself—and made it his own. The novel is still the only one to have won the Booker Prize twice, but really that's the least of it.
[#image: /photos/54cbf517998d4de83ba37312]|||Read more by Christopher Hitchens. Photograph by Christian Witkin.|||
His later novels have maintained the standard: I specially recommend The Moor's Last Sigh, which contains a marvelous portrait of the city of Bombay before the religious sectarians changed its name to Mumbai. "Those who hated India," wrote Salman with awful prescience, "those who sought to ruin it, would need to ruin Bombay." His fictional genius to one side, Rushdie also chronicled the new age of migration and the contradictory synthesis of cultures.
How often have I been able to speak and write about my friend in this way? Not that often. For example, when he was staying in my house back at Thanksgiving of 1993, so were about a dozen heavily armed members of the United States' finest anti-terrorist forces. And you all know at least some of the backstory. On Valentine's Day 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran gave Salman's book The Satanic Verses the single worst review any novelist has ever had, calling in frenzied tones for his death and also for the killing of all those "involved in its publication." This was the first time that most people outside the Muslim world had heard the word fatwa, or religious edict. So if you have missed the humorous and ironic side of Mr. Rushdie, this could conceivably be the reason why. Just to re-state the situation before I go any farther: two decades ago the theocratic head of a foreign state offered a large sum of money, in his own name, in public, to suborn the murder of a writer of fiction who was not himself an Iranian. In the event that some would-be assassin died in the attempt and failed to pick up the dough, an immediate passage to paradise was assured. (Again, this was the first time that many in the West found out about this now notorious Koranic promise.) I thought then, and I think now, that this was not just a warning of what was to come. It was the warning. The civil war in the Muslim world, between those who believed in jihad and Shari'a and those who did not, was coming to our streets and cities. Within a short time, Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of The Satanic Verses, was stabbed to death on the campus where he taught literature, and the Italian translator Ettore Capriolo was knifed in his apartment in Milan. William Nygaard, the novel's Norwegian publisher, was shot three times in the back and left for dead outside his Oslo home. Several very serious bids, often backed by Iranian Embassies, were made on the life of Salman himself. And all this because the senile Khomeini, who had publicly promised that he would never make a deal with Saddam Hussein because god was on the Iranian side, had had to swallow the poison (as he put it) of signing a treaty after all, and was urgently in need of a crowd-pleasing "issue" that would restore his purist religious credentials.
I nonetheless maintain that language and not politics was the crucial question here. Salman Rushdie, raised a Muslim, concluded that the Koran was a book made by the hands of men and was thus a fit subject for literary criticism and fictional borrowing. (Almost every historic battle for free expression, from Socrates to Galileo, has begun as a struggle over what is and is not "blasphemy.") In contrast, the very definition of a "fundamentalist" is someone who believes that "holy writ" is instead the fixed and unalterable word of god. For our time and generation, the great conflict between the ironic mind and the literal mind, the experimental and the dogmatic, the tolerant and the fanatical, is the argument that was kindled by The Satanic Verses.
Not everybody agreed with me about the nature of this confrontation. President George H. W. Bush, asked for a comment, said that no American interest was involved. I doubt he would have said this if the chairman of Texaco had been hit by a fatwa, but even if Salman's wife of the time (who had to go with him into hiding) had not been an American, it could be argued that the United States has an interest in opposing state-sponsored terrorism against novelists. Various intellectualoids, from John Berger on the left to Norman Podhoretz on the right, argued that Rushdie got what he deserved for insulting a great religion. (Like the Ayatollah Khomeini, they had not put themselves to the trouble of reading the novel, in which the only passage that can possibly be complained of occurs in the course of a nightmare suffered by a madman.) Some of this was a hasty bribe paid to the crude enforcer of fear: if Susan Sontag had not been the president of pen in 1989, there might have been many who joined Arthur Miller in his initial panicky refusal to sign a protest against the ayatollah's invocation of Murder Incorporated. "I'm Jewish," said the author of The Crucible. "I'd only help them change the subject." But Susan would have none of that, and shamed many more pants wetters whose names I still cannot reveal. Others remarked darkly that Rushdie "knew what he was doing," as if that itself was something creepy or mercenary on its face. By the way, he certainly did know what he was doing. He had studied Islamic scripture at Cambridge University, and I well remember one evening, at the apartment of Professor Edward Said near Columbia, when the advance manuscript of The Satanic Verses was delivered to Edward by the Andrew Wylie agency. In a covering note, Salman asked America's best-known Palestinian for his learned advice, given the probability that the book might upset "the faithful." So, yes, he "knew" all right, but in a highly responsible way. In any case, it is not the job of writers and thinkers to appease the faithful. And the faithful, if in fact upset or offended, are quite able and entitled to explore all forms of protest. Short of violence.
Those last three words are not a proper sentence, but they summon to mind the various "sentences" that have since been pronounced by the faithful in their periodic fits of rage. The Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, descendant of the painter, shot down and then ritually butchered on an Amsterdam street after making a short film about the maltreatment of Muslim women in Holland. His colleague Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an elected member of the Dutch parliament, forced into hiding and ultimately into exile by incessant threats of death. Another small (and unusually open and multicultural) European democracy, that of Denmark, its embassies burned and its exports boycotted and its citizens threatened, because of a few cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published in a morning newspaper in Copenhagen. Daniel Pearl, of The Wall Street Journal, taunted on video for being a Jew and then foully beheaded. Riots and burnings and killings all across the Muslim world, some of them clearly incited by the authorities, in response to some ill-judged words about Islam from the Pope.
These are among the things that have happened, and have become depressingly taken for granted, since the fatwa of the ayatollah. We live now in a climate where every publisher and editor and politician has to weigh in advance the possibility of violent Muslim reprisal. In consequence, there are a number of things that have not happened. Let me give a recent and trivial example that isn't altogether lacking in symbolic importance. Last October, Sony PlayStation abruptly delayed the release of its biggest video game in 2008, LittleBigPlanet, because an accompanying track by the Malian singer Toumani Diabaté included two expressions that, according to the Press Association report, "can be found in the Koran." Following the lead of the American press—which refused to show its readers the Danish cartoons and thus permit them to judge for themselves—the report did not care to say which "expressions" these were. It was a textbook instance of self-censorship or, if you prefer, of crying before you are hurt. There was one American magazine (the secular Free Inquiry, for which I write) that did print those Danish cartoons—Borders Books pulled that issue from the shelves.
But that you can be hurt, let nobody doubt. A few weeks before Sony PlayStation capitulated in advance, so to speak, a firebomb was thrown into a private home in North London that is also the office of a small publisher named Gibson Square Books. The director, Martin Rynja, was chosen for this atrocity because he had decided to publish a romantic novel called The Jewel of Medina, by the American writer Sherry Jones, which told the tale of the prophet Muhammad's youngest and favorite wife, the nine-year-old Aisha (aged six at the time of her betrothal). The novel had originally been commissioned by Random House in New York. How did such a small London press acquire the honor of becoming its British publisher? Because Random House dumped the book on receiving a threat from a single reader that it might have another "Rushdie affair" on its hands. The date of the subsequent firebombing, 26 September last, was the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Satanic Verses.
So there is now a hidden partner in our cultural and academic and publishing and broadcasting world: a shadowy figure that has, uninvited, drawn up a chair to the table. He never speaks. He doesn't have to. But he is very well understood. The late playwright Simon Gray was alluding to him when he said that Nicholas Hytner, the head of London's National Theatre, might put on a play mocking Christianity but never one that questioned Islam. I brushed up against the unacknowledged censor myself when I went on CNN to defend the Danish cartoons and found that, though the network would show the relevant page of the newspaper, it had pixelated the cartoons themselves. And this in an age when the image is everything. The lady anchor did not blush to tell me that the network was obliterating its very stock-in-trade (newsworthy pictures) out of sheer fear.
Sometimes this fear—and this blackmail—comes dressed up in the guise of good manners and multiculturalism. One must not wound the religious feelings of others, many of whom are poor immigrants in our own societies. To this I would respond by pointing to a book published in 1994. It is entitled For Rushdie: Essays by Arab and Muslim Writers in Defense of Free Speech. Among its contributors is almost every writer worthy of the name in the Arab and Muslim world, ranging from the Syrian poet Adonis to the Syrian-Kurdish author Salim Barakat, to the late national bard of the Palestinians, Mahmoud Darwish, to the celebrated Turkish writers Murat Belge and Orhan Pamuk. Especially impressive and courageous was the list of 127 Iranian writers, artists, and intellectuals who, from the prison house that is the Islamic Republic, signed their names to a letter which said: "We underline the intolerable character of the decree of death that the Fatwah is, and we insist on the fact that aesthetic criteria are the only proper ones for judging works of art.… To the extent that the systematic denial of the rights of man in Iran is tolerated, this can only further encourage the export outside the Islamic Republic of its terroristic methods which destroy freedom." In other words, the situation is the exact reverse of what the condescending multiculturalists say it is. To indulge the idea of religious censorship by the threat of violence is to insult and undermine precisely those in the Muslim world who are its intellectual cream, and who want to testify for their own liberty—and for ours. It is also to make the patronizing assumption that the leaders of mobs and the inciters of goons are the authentic representatives of Muslim opinion. What could be more "offensive" than that?
In the hot days immediately after the fatwa, with Salman himself on the run and the TV screens filled with images of burning books and writhing mustaches, I was stopped by a female Muslim interviewer and her camera crew and asked an ancient question: "Is nothing sacred?" I can't remember quite what I answered then, but I know what I would say now. "No, nothing is sacred. And even if there were to be something called sacred, we mere primates wouldn't be able to decide which book or which idol or which city was the truly holy one. Thus, the only thing that should be upheld at all costs and without qualification is the right of free expression, because if that goes, then so do all other claims of right as well." I also think that human life has its sacrosanct aspect, and though I can think of many circumstances in which I would take a life, the crime of writing a work of fiction is not a justification (even in the case of Ludlum) that I could ever entertain. Two decades on, Salman himself is thriving mightily and living again like a free man. But the culture that sustains him, and that he helps sustain, has twisted itself into a posture of prior restraint and self-censorship in which the grim, mad edict of a dead theocrat still exerts its chilling force. And, by the way, the next time that Khomeini's lovely children want to make themselves felt, they will be armed not just with fatwas but with nuclear weapons.


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I knew this would happen. As soon as I saw how successful BET's "The New Edition Story" was on social media, I figured that any and all media companies who've had biopics in development would get the greenlight and go full bore. And I am very happy to be here.
According to Mr. Dalvin, a Jodeci biopic is in the works, with a script already written and has gone into production. This news is exciting to many people. I am one of them. Not to go all fan girl but I want to see a Jodeci biopic for many, many reasons. Here are 10 of them.
1. The Jodeci story isn't exactly a happy one. There have to be all kinds of lessons in this joint.
Look, I'm glad "The New Edition Story" didn't end like "The Temptations Movie", which, I mean, SHIT; that was sad. Everybody but Otis Williams and Dennis Edwards was dead. Otis sonned himself with the "ain't nobody coming to see you, Otis" line, David Ruffin got tossed out of a car, Paul Williams killed himself years prior, Eddie Kendricks died of cancer, Melvin Franklin died in his wheelchair (in the movie at least). Shit was sad. Jodeci's story isn't like that (yet), but if you'll recall, we've got chart topping albums and singles AND we've got niggas passing out on stage, DeVante's hair modeling several different angles of "what the fuck?", K-Ci and JoJo in rehab on reality television, erratic behaviors, violence, robberies, etc.
Jodeci pretty much lived the entire good, bad, and ugly of the music industry.
2. We know their story but we don't KNOW their story.
This piggybacks off the first one, but to be a Jodeci fan is to know their backstory already. They jumped in a car from Charlotte, Dalvin hopped in the trunk and didn't tell nobody, and they went to New York, Puffy shows up, they caught a deal with Uptown, DeVante became one of the most underrated and influential producers, like ever, after 1995's The Show, The Afterparty, The Hotel album, Jodeci took a hiatus, K-Ci and JoJo released a string of albums to increasingly less and less fanfare (did you know they had FIVE albums?) though their first album was fucking banoodles.
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But what about their early lives as gospel singers? K-Ci and DeVante worked together before Jodeci. How'd that all come to be? We know they're church kids gon' Stevie J. (which was Stevie J's story too), but how far did they go from where they came from? Inquiring minds would like to know.
3. Shit, this could explain Dalvin.
Look, nobody thinks Dalvin contributed anything aside from being attractive. Maybe he booked more chicks than the rest. He played drums at the end of that video and said, "that's what I do." Awesome. But how do you NOT have your name be part of the group name that's comprised of the group unless you just aren't vital. That's all I'm saying. So maybe the one silver lining is that we might get an answer to the age old question: did Dalvin actually add any value or did he luck into being the brother of DeVante? Or did he really just jump in the trunk after the name was already set in stone.
4. There could some significant Straight Outta Compton style omissions
I'm not sure how else to say this, but if a person whose name rhymes with Scary Hay Fries doesn't catch and possibly dish out a two-piece in this movie and then go onto release one of the greatest R&B albums ever in My Life, it's not complete. And I can't see that person signing off on her life rights to be included. Point is, this could spawn several other biopics in response to the original biopic a la Straight Outta Compton and the subsequent Lifetime original, Surviving Compton via Michel'lé.
5. Jodeci's run REALLY ended in 1995 but they still matter.
Sure they released an album in 2015, but let's just not talk about that ever again. Prior to, though, their last contribution as a group was in 1995, and yet, the Jodeci legacy looms large over Black music. There are artists who are influenced by them today.
6. DeVante was a musical genius.
Watching DeVante come up with songs like "Freek 'n U," easily one of the greatest songs every created, would be worth the price of admission. I want to see DeVante locked into becoming the producer he was. DeVante is the sound of Jodeci and I want to see that process on camera.
6. Do you realize the artists came up under DeVante?
Timbaland. Missy. Ginuwine. Tweet. Stevie J. YES THAT STEVIE J WAS A SESSION MUSICIAN FOR JODECI. Bruh, Stevie J might end up in a movie. Even in its demise, the Swing Mob sold you, like, a trillion records.
7. Death Row Records
If you'll remember DeVante, in particular, ended up working pretty heavily with Death Row Records. Apparently this was during the drug and alcohol portion of their lives, but the point is, Suge Knight will make appearances. Suge Knight would have had the best biopic run ever. He's in damn near every major biopic that comes out nowadays. While this isn't necessarily a good thing, Suge Knight is pretty much a vital part of your entire childhood if you grew up in the 80s and 90s whether you like it or not.
8. Let's just give DeVante his own biopic
DeVante left North Carolina first trying to make his way as a producer, tried to get to Prince, created the Jodeci sound, worked with rappers and singers, got robbed, pistol whipped, and Death Row gave him cover and fear, rumored Mike Tyson interventions, a much more sexualized and raunchy album in 1995's heavily Cali-influenced The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel. It had great singles, but it was also the end of Jodeci after I'm guessing all of the drugs, alcohol, violence, and shenanigans imploded the group. Then he seemed to get lost in the drugs and trappings of fame leading to various ODD and erratic situations, including "the hair" and an altercation at Subway. He's lived.
9. K-Ci and JoJo had an entire second career and lots of rehab
Do you realize that K-Ci and Jojo had FIVE albums, post Jodeci? I remember two of them. But both of the Haley brothers battled alcoholism, even ending up on reality shows chronicling the addiction. I'm just saying, these boys lived a lot of lives.
10. Because "Cry 4 You" is one of the greatest videos ever made and I need to see them recreate it.
Anything less is uncivilized.


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Zorach, William
Zorach, William zŏr´äk [key], 1887–1966, American sculptor, b. Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States when he was four and settled near Cleveland. After studying at the Cleveland School of Art and the National Academy of Design, New York City, Zorach spent two years in France. Shortly after his return to the United States he took up permanent residence in New York. In 1922 he turned from painting to sculpture. Without formal training in this field he evolved a personal and monumental style that placed him among the foremost sculptors of his day. Carving mainly in stone and in wood, he is known for the simplicity and solidity of his forms. His works are in many private and public collections. In New York the Whitney Museum owns his Pegasus and Future Generation; the Radio City Music Hall has his Spirit of the Dance. Zorach taught at the Art Students League.
See his Zorach Explains Sculpture (1960) and Art Is My Life (1967); study by J. I. H. Baur (1959).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: American and Canadian Art: Biographies


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Uber was told on Monday evening to suspend its autonomous car-testing program in Arizona. The move follows the death of Elaine Herzberg, a pedestrian who was struck and killed by one of the company's self-driving vehicles on March 18. According to the Associated Press, Governor Doug Ducey told Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi that public safety should be a top priority, and that "[t]he incident that took place... is an unquestionable failure to comply with this expectation."
In recent months, Arizona has become a hotbed of autonomous-vehicle testing. In contrast to California, the state has very little in the way of oversight, and both Waymo and Uber have been testing extensively, along with other, smaller self-driving programs. Beyond carrying liability insurance, autonomous vehicles are free to drive and aren't subject to the crash or disengagement reports required by Arizona's neighbor to the west.
Herzberg's death has shone a spotlight on a state that was already unfriendly to pedestrians—in the same week as this fatal crash, nine other pedestrians were killed by vehicles. But humans are generally more accepting of the risk from other human drivers than they are machines, and now Uber has the distinction of being responsible for the first self-driving fatality. Even though the company voluntarily suspended its testing program in Arizona and elsewhere, Ducey's action presumably means it can't start up again without official permission.


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Massachusetts CDL Practice Test: Class A - Test 8 2023
Based on
2023 MA CDL Handbook
Instruction: When applying for this license, applicants must pass a 50-question test. And applicants must score 80% to pass the test. The following questions are based on the details provided in the MA CDL Handbook. Endorsements that may be used with a Class A CDL include Hazardous Materials, Passenger, Double and Triples, HazMat and Tanker, Air Brakes and School bus. If you need additional information, please contact your local DMV office. You can find your nearest DMV office at Massachusetts RMV locations.
1. Who takes the general knowledge test?
Only applicants who will take the tanker test and the passenger transport test.
Only people who need to take the air brakes test.
All applicants.
No one.


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Pah Homestead, home of the TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre. Image: Su Leslie 2019. Click to enlarge image.
I'm a fairly regular visitor to Pah Homestead in Auckland because it houses a fantastic collection of New Zealand art which I never tire of seeing.
The house was built in the late 1870s as a private home, with extensive and beautifully landscaped grounds. These are now owned by Auckland City and open as a public park. A park I'd never visited until today.
Pah Homestead, from the end of the lawn. Image; Su Leslie 2019. Click to enlarge image.
It was a bit too hot to explore much, so I think another visit is in order.
Posted to Ragtag Daily Prompt | walk


text: Nuveen Municipal Value Fund, Inc. (NUV) Social Stream NUV Home News Ratings Charts Dividends Social Nuveen Municipal Value Fund, Inc. (NUV): $8.67 -0.02 (-0.23%) POWR Rating Component Grades Sign Up to See Ratings...FREE! We have 9 different ratings for every stock to help you appreciate its future potential. You can unlock it all now. Just click the link above. Growth S Value I Momentum G Stability N Sentiment U Quality P Add NUV to Watchlist Sign Up Industry: Asset Management Ranked of 64 in industry See All 'A' Rated Buy Stocks Loading social stream, please wait... GET POWR RATINGS... FREE! Most Popular Stories View All • The WORST Stock Market Ever! • This Software Stock Just Flashed a Buy Signal • 3 Stocks with More Upside Potential • 2 Top Stocks That Should Be on Your Radar This Spring • REVISED: 2023 Stock Market Outlook View All Top Stories Get Free Updates Join thousands of investors who get the latest news, insights and top rated picks from StockNews.com! Subscribe


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Are you looking for a way to get back to the good old days in one way or another? This classic hippy van is a way to do it without compromising your values over the things that are important to you. Most people understand that gas guzzlers are a thing of the past, but not everyone is ready to flow into the confined market of electric cars because there is not enough personalization to enjoy it. Now, Volkswagen is introducing a brand new model of its beloved hippy van and enjoy all of the benefits that come from enjoying a modern vehicle.
The exciting part of this van is that it maintains the authenticity of the hippy van that we all love and cherish while making sure that it has all of our modern needs in terms of fuel/power as well as things like AC and a powerful engine that will take you all over the world with no carbon footprint to speak of. This is sure to get heart pumping, I can imagine. It's a modern piece of history that comes back to us at last, and we couldn't be more excited.


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I voted, too!
I am writing this Scarleteen blog entry after having read Heather's piece after I returned home from my local polling place. Heather, I thank you for sharing your thoughts and reasons for voting the way you did this year; this blog entry was inspired in large part by your post. I find myself holding many similar sentiments to the ones you expressed here so well. As a fellow Green Party supporter as well as long-term Ralph Nader fan, whom I admire for standing by his convictions and staying true to his word in his actions*, I found myself with not just one but two very appealing third party/independent candidates that I'd very much like to vote for this year.
However, I decided that keeping McCain out of office, imagining just how horrible his presidency would be for the US and world at large, was most important: I cast my vote for Obama. As Heather so succinctly stated, "While I'd love to vote for my party (wouldn't I always!), this is another of those years where I don't feel able to do that." I will share that this decision was almost down to the wire: a convincing phone call from my highly-regarded and well-informed younger sister yesterday, as well as my attendance of an inspirational Henry Rollins spoken-word show this Fall helped give me that final push.
I respect McCain's experience as a POW but am incredulous and appalled that he, after enduring the horrors of torture firsthand, does not truly support veterans and their families. Palin is given a lot of flack in ways that most male politicians are not, her intelligence questioned and family decisions so intensely scrutinized. Honestly, the clothing she wears or what she does in her free time does not bother me, but her politics are so extreme that I find them almost hard to believe. The fact that her town charges rape victims for their rape kits is enough for her to lose any and all support political from me.
I believe Obama will win by a landslide, including gaining the majority in places previously labeled as more conservative. (Then again, the idea that someone might not vote for a candidate just because he's black is such a foreign concept to me...) I hope and believe that the current US is much more progressive than people often think. When it comes down to it, it's not really about one particularly charismatic young politician inspiring Americans to be "The Change We Need." Instead, it is Americans being finally so fed up with all the crap that has occurred these past eight years in their name that they will exercise their right– and responsibility– to react accordingly. We will see!
*On my sentiments for Ralph Nader: I wish more liberal people weren't so negative about his decision to continually stand up for his strong believes rather than blame him for costing the Democratic Party the 2000 election. To me, this is another version of "blaming the victim". Yes, the Florida recount was a mess and unfair. However, as for "stealing the election," I believe those critical Democrats should recognize that their party was not meeting people's political needs and worked harder to garner up their support. Indeed, I know that McCain and Palin like to use the word Maverick a lot but I believe this title is best suited to Nader.


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Prior to his recent visit to China, Vice-president Joe Biden tried to assure investors that U.S. Treasury bonds are still a good investment, saying that the US administration "is deeply committed to maintaining the fundamentals of the US economy" to "ensure the safety, liquidity and value of US Treasury obligations for all of its investors".
Good try, but the Chinese are not buying it, nor, it seems, is anyone else. The Federal Reserve has become of late the biggest buyer of treasury bonds, and Standard and Poor recently announced that they have downgraded the U.S. debt rating from AAA to AA+. Dollar denominated securities are now becoming a "hot potato" as loss of purchasing power of the dollar seems assured.
An August 19, 2011 article in China Daily titled, Experts urge China to trim US T-bond holdings, quotes both Chinese and American authorities and concludes that "China should reduce its holdings of US Treasury bonds to protect the value of its massive foreign exchange reserves." Here are some excerpts:
"China should move progressively to cut its holdings of US Treasury bonds and use it as leverage to ask Washington to further open its markets, including the high-technology sector, to Chinese investment," Xiang Songzuo, deputy director of the Center for International Monetary Research at Renmin University of China, said at a forum.
"Washington should provide a guarantee on the safety of China's assets," while it is creating global inflationary pressure through quantitative easing to stimulate its economy, Xiang said
Zhu Chao, assistant dean of the School of Finance at the Capital University of Economics and Business, said Biden's promises were more symbolic than meaningful.
Stephen Roach, the non-executive chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, said that the US debt crisis has shaken China's confidence in Washington but the pro-consumption shift in its economic structure will help reduce the pace of its foreign-exchange accumulation.
"The US debt crisis has taken a serious toll on China's confidence in Washington's economic stewardship," Roach said in a research note.
"China is no longer willing to risk financial and economic stability on the basis of Washington's hollow promises and tarnished economic stewardship."
The situation suggests some major policy questions that could have far-reaching effects on the American economy and on the American middle-class. China has, up to now, been willing to accept America's i.o.u.'s in exchange for all those computers, TVs, shoes, clothing, and other goodies that Americans have been gobbling up at bargain prices. Now the piper must be paid, one way or another. Will Washington "further open its markets, including the high-technology sector, to Chinese investment," as the Chinese are demanding? Will the U.S. government allow Chinese companies to buy up American companies, real estate, and infrastructure?
You can't blame the Chinese for wanting real value in return for what they have already delivered. The fault lies with the policies of the past 30 years that, in the guise of "free trade," have promoted the interests of the few at the expense of the many.—t.h.g.


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The Gayborhood goes wild
With all the excitement generated by the opening of a suburban mall in the heart of Salt Lake City and new plans for a beige highrise in the Sugar Hole, I thought I'd check on the stalled redevelopment of the north-end of 300 West–sometimes called the historic Marmalade-Gayborhood District.
The city's Redevelopment Agency saw development skid to a halt in the M-G with the recession. The instant-ghost town of retail spaces the RDA threw up on 300 West remain empty except for a Landis salon.
Over the winter, a private developer put in a dollar store to compete with the hood's locally owned 7-Eleven (shout out to Mark the Merchant!) and the nearby family-owned E-Z Mart (행운을 빌어요 !).
But what seemed like the biggest loss of momentum, the stalling of the huge Howa development at the corner of 300 West/600 North has become a win for the neighborhood. Over the last winter, a wetlands has developed in Marmalade Hole. I checked it out this week and discovered an emergent wildlife sanctuary.
In five minutes on the shores of Lake Howa, I observed: Mr. & Mrs. mallards, western king bird, a killdeer family, barn and cliff swallows and a sharp-shinned hawk, that made everyone nervous. (Earlier this spring Canada geese made a stopover).
In short, the recession has given 300 West neighborhood something perhaps more wonderful than another mixed use development. Now, we need to get President Obama to designate it a national monument. (After all, it's in Rep. Rob Bishop's district.)
Finally, I was taken aback to see a sheep-herder's trailer parked next to Club Jam.
WTF? A sheep herder cracked under his mountain solidtude and lit out for the big city? Or is Jam going to sponsor a "Brokeback Mountain" pageant to compete with the Manti Miracle Pageant?
I love this neighborhood.
Comments are closed.


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French lawmakers voted Tuesday to approve a draft law to filter Internet traffic, a measure the government says is intended to catch child pornographers. The bill will now go on for a second and final reading.
Critics of the catch-all "Bill on direction and planning for the performance of domestic security" say that filtering won't stop the spread of child pornography — but could allow the government to censor other materials.
The bill, known as Loppsi II in French, was approved by 312 votes to 214 in a vote in the National Assembly on Tuesday. The government has a large majority in the Assembly; two of its deputies abstained, with the others all voting in favor of the bill.
The Senate, where the government also has a majority, will soon give the bill a second reading. If the Senate makes no amendments to the text, that will also be its final reading, as the government has declared the bill "urgent," a procedural move that reduces the usual cycle of four readings to two. Any disagreements between the two parliamentary chambers will be reconciled by a commission appointed by the government.
The bill is a mishmash of unrelated measures, boosting the amount the police spend on "security," multiplying penalties for counterfeiting checks or credit cards, increasing use of CCTV cameras, extending access to the police national DNA database and authorizing the seizure of vehicles driven without a license.
Among the measures dealing with the Internet, it seeks to criminalize online identity theft, allow police to tap Internet connections as well as phone lines during investigations, and target child pornography by ordering ISPs to filter Internet connections.
ISPs will be required to block access to any Internet address the authorities consider necessary to prevent distribution of child pornography.
Critics of the bill, while opposing the distribution of child pornography, say filtering is the wrong way to go about it.
In a report analyzing the economics of the child pornography business, journalist Fabrice Epelboin warned that filtering URLs will have no effect, as distributors of such materials are already using encrypted peer-to-peer systems to deliver their wares.
During the debate, Deputy Lionel Tardy cited a report from the French Federation of Telecommunications that said filtering would cost up to €140 million (US$190 million) yet remain largely ineffective against the main distribution channels for child pornography.
As if that weren't enough, others say that blocking sites suspected of hosting child pornography is likely to affect blameless sites at the same IP (Internet protocol) address, so-called "collateral damage."
Opposition deputies tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to require blocking only of specific URLs or documents to avoid this problem. They also wanted a judge to review the list of blocked URLs each month to ensure that sites were not needlessly blocked, and to make the filters a temporary measure until their effectiveness was proven, but those amendments too were rejected by the government majority.
Once the filter system is in place, say its opponents, it could be used to limit access to other Internet sites.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is already thinking along those lines. In a speech to members of the French music and publishing industries in January, Sarkozy said that authorities should experiment with filtering in order to automatically remove all forms of piracy from the Internet.


text: Cloud Tiering Surveon Maximizes Your Data Protection With Cloud NVR Solutions Posted by Jay Bartlett January 14, 2018 7:56 am Categories: Cloud, Network, NVRs / DVRs, Surveillance, Technologies. Tags: automated storage tiering, backup, Cloud Backup, Cloud Cache, Cloud Tiering, data services, disaster recovery, IOT, local/remote replication, NVR in Cloud, SSD cache, Surveon Cloud NVR, thin provisioning. Being the generation of "Internet of Things", people are storing everything to cloud in order to simplify the management. In surveillance field, many kinds of cloud NVR solutions are released to the public. The most common topology is "NVR in Cloud", the video recordings are transferred from IP cameras to cloud directly.


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Tagged: on-field incidents
Bringing It To You Straight, No Taser
On-field fan incidents have been a big topic of conversation ever since the controversial tasering of a fan at a Phillies game earlier this month.
Perhaps this explains why the Altoona Curve have made national headlines today, after a bizarre incident at Blair County Ballpark last night. After sneaking into the stadium via a parking garage, an intoxicated homeless man wandered across the outfield during the bottom of the ninth inning of a contest between the Curve and Akron Aeros.
The man, who lacked identification but gave his name as "Tyrone R. Squires", was detained by Curve security without incident and then turned over to Altoona police. A detailed write-up of Squires' misadventures appeared in today's edition of The Altoona Mirror, and this account served as the basis of an Associated Press article that has been picked up by The New York Times among other outlets.
Curve media relations director Dan Zangrilli said the team was a bit perplexed over the national attention.
"It wasn't that big a deal, quite honestly. It was just a guy who decided to take a little cruise along the warning track," he said. "The whole thing was uneventful, and posed no threat to players or fans. That said, we do take this kind of thing seriously. Trespassing is a serious offense, and we turned him over to the authorities."
But right now the team has bigger issues on its mind: preserved meat products. Tonight's Wacky Wednesday promotion at Blair County Ballpark is "Livin La Vida Lunch Meat", a comprehensive salute to all things meaty that received a write-up in the most recent edition of "Promotion Preview."
"It's all about the Braunschweiger, baby," said Zangrilli.
— I hope to continue yesterday's classification-based post in the near future, but for now I'll dispense with such formalities in order to share a couple of most-interesting Minor League developments.
The Brooklyn Cyclones have released a sketch of what is sure to be one of 2010's most-sought after bobbleheads: Mets rookie sensation (and former Cyclone) Ike Davis in the midst of one of his now trademark dugout-tumbling snags:
The giveaway is on August 2, distributed to the first 2500 fans — get your tickets now and arrive early.
In other intriguing bobblehead news, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have announced the finalists for September's "Fan's Choice" bobble.
In my mind, the choice that stands out above the rest is "Scooter Vs. the Snowman", commemorating a particularly memorable moment that occurred during the club's whitewashed Opening Day.
Finally, I wanted to share this video I received from the Memphis Redbirds, featuring a Baby T-Rex throwing out the first pitch. It's going to be a long time before I tire of watching this:
The Baby T-Rex is scheduled to make its next appearance in Reading on May 25, once again throwing out the first pitch and then spending the remainder of the game ambling through the stadium. This will allow fans plenty of time to contemplate the genetic links between dinosaurs and the Crazy Hot Dog Vendor's loyal ostrich:


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Head Of Sexual-Harassment Program At Fort Campbell Arrested
The manager of the sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., has been arrested in a domestic dispute and has been relieved of his post.
"Lt. Col. Darin Haas turned himself in to police late Wednesday on charges of violating an order of protection and stalking. A spokesman for the post on the Tennessee-Kentucky line say Haas was immediately removed as manager of a program meant to prevent sexual harassment and assault and encourage equal opportunity."
Haas and his former wife have orders of protection against each other, but she said he repeatedly contacted her Wednesday night despite the order.
The report comes on the heels of an investigation of an Army sergeant who was part of the Fort Hood, Texas, sexual-assault response office. The unnamed sergeant faced accusations of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.
That incident earlier this week came just days after a similar case involving an officer in the Air Force's sexual assault response office. The lieutenant colonel was arrested in Virginia for accosting a woman in a parking lot. He faces trial next month.
As Mark reported on Wednesday, the incidents have prompted the Pentagon to order all branches of the U.S. military "to retrain, re-credential and rescreen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters."
The military has developed an elaborate system to deal with continuing waves of assault, but as NPR's Larry Abramson said on All Things Considered: "The biggest problem is that the military has right now is getting victims to report because there's so much fear that it could have a negative impact on your career and cause all kinds of potential problems down the road."
Lawmakers from both parties have criticized the incidents.
Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit www.npr.org.


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Please read the instructions before you post your imageshttp://www.cavaliertalk.com/forums/showthread.php?44012-Online-photo-competition-celebrity-judge!
To enter, reply to this thread posting your photo from your hosting site [eg Flickr, Photobucket] as per usual. You must own the copyright to the photo and you will need to have a file of sufficient size, either in JPG or ZIP format, minimum size of 2mb, max 3mb.
For the best chance of winning, try to ensure that the photograph is in focus, the best place to focus upon is the eyes.
Photos taken on a mobile 'phone will probably not be of sufficient quality to reproduce on the calendar. Don't forget that landscape format photos work best on the calendar.
Please check the details for payment for entries.
Thank you - good luck!


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Opening Day is Not Far Away!!
- 5-2 Indians
This was a game that kind of went over my head. I listened to the first half of the first inning, where the Padres got one run, then I decided to see if I could listen to the game and read a facinating book at the same time. Well, the book won. I actually turned off the radio and just read. By the way, if you're into thick adventure books, you have got to check out this series by Stephen Lawhead. It's called the King Raven Trilogy, and it is excellent. I'm working on the third book right now.
Where was I? Ah yes, the game. Well, Kevin Correia started, giving up three runs on five hits in five innings. He also walked three batters. So, it was a decent outing, but he hasn't had a spectacular outing at all this spring. Frankie De La Cruz threw two innings, giving up one run. Greg Burke threw an inning and allowed a run. So, the pitching was average.
The hitting was average. We took a 2-0 lead, but the pitching gave it up. Five hits and six left on base, you know. AVERAGE. This roster is shaping up, though. We're getting so close to Opening Day!
Kyle Blanks was sent to Minor League camp yesterday. The best player of the spring, he will start the season at Triple-A. But as I recall, something very much like this happened last spring. The Padres' most prized prospect, Chase Headley, was sent to Triple-A after a stellar spring. He joined the major-league team in June. Blanks has it harder, though, since he doesn't have a position to play on the club. He plays first base; there's another guy named Adrian Gonzalez who has first base taken care of. But the Padres will find a place for him to play.
Guess what? Trevor's going on the 15-day DL!! Look what the Brewers have done to him!! This is really sad because this is only the second time in his 16-year career that he's been on the DL. He never should have left the Padres! He needs to be with the trainers who know how to take care of him, the ones who have been working with him for years! Argh. Brewers, take care of the old man. Please. The Padres need him next year!!
I am so excited for Opening Day! It's going to be so much fun to be able to hear some "real" baseball – games that matter. It's going to be so much fun to hear Jake Peavy's performance. He's going to be good, especially against the Dodgers.
I need to get out to an Opening Day game someday. It would be so neat to be in that atmosphere, to be at the very first game of the season. I would love to see Jake pitch for the first time of the season. I think I've seen Jake pitch three times, and it's so much fun to watch. He's just getting strikeout after strikeout, and he's not giving up anything. It would be so much fun to be out there on Opening Day. I must do it someday!!
Tonight is my brother's eighth game. It will be very fun to watch, and let's see if those Pirates can win their sixth game in a row!
Tonight is also a big playoff game between the San Diego State Aztecs and the Baylor Bears. Go Aztecs!
And the Padres are playing tonight against the Brewers. They should pound Milwaukee for hurting our Trevor. Well, at least Trevor won't be pitching. Walter Silva, who will very likely be in the rotation, is pitching for the Padres.
We only have two more Cactus League games after tonight's game! Then we have the SoCal series against the Angels on Friday and Saturday, and then Fan Day on Sunday, and Opening Day on Monday!! Very exciting!!
(photo credits: blog.brandhatchery.com, pe.com)


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B.O.B - ARENA LYRICS - MP3 DOWNLOAD[Hook: Chris Brown]
If Anybody Feeling Fresh In The Building
Take Your Hand, Hold It High To ..
The Ceiling Right Now
And Say Damn I'm Killing Them,...
Damn I'm Killing Them
I Know They Feeling Me Now
And If You Too Fresh In The Building
Then Take Your Hand, Hold It High ...
To The Ceiling Right Now
And Say Damn I'm Killing Them, ...
Damn I'm Killing Them
I Know They Feeling Me Now
[Verse 1: B.O.B]
And I'm Still Here With A Lifestyle You Would Kill For
Still Here With The Same Shoes ...
That I Had On From The Get-Go
Straight Out Of Atlanta, Georgia
For Any Of Y'all That Didn't Know
And I'm Never That Hard To Find ...
Because 420 Is My Zip Code
My Back Then Couldn't Get Dro, ...
Cause Back Then I Was This Broke
That's Why I Got So Many Hustles
Bruh Man From The Fifth Floor
What Would You Do In The Middle Of The Winter
When The Sun Goes Down And It Gets Cold...
Growin' Up In A House With No Stove
No Doors, No Walls, No Windows
And My Brother Was Always Fresher
I Would Go To School In His Clothes,...
When I Did Go..So That's Why Now This ...
The Type Of Life That I Live For
Comin' Up As A Youngin', ...
Man Some Nights I Would Vomit
I Would Throw Up On Myself Cause..
I Was So Sick To My Stomach
Now I'm The Shit, Fix The Plumbing
Feel With My Y'all, I'm This Close
Spent My Whole Life Chasin' Shit, ..
Where's NabiscoMy Past Memories, I Miss Those
Hey, All I Can Say Is You Get What You Wish For
Let's Go, Hey..I'm Fresh Off My Pit-Stop
Flow Airtight With No Ziploc
Get Shit Pop When My Shit Drop
No Hip-Hop, This Tip Hop
I'm Back Standin' At The Tip Top
Where I Belong, It Won't Be Long
'Til You Hear Me On A B.O.B Song
Some Chick Gettin' My Skeet On
To Touch The Sole Of My Feet, G
You're Gon' Have To Get Your Reach On
I'm Up All The Way High, All The Way Fly
On The Ground And I'm Off The Radar
Bernie Madoff Money, Dawg...
Got Killers Paid Off With It All...
I Got The Juice, Could You Place A Call
And We Place A Call To Who Place A Call
Don't Get Your Part And Not Too Hard
I Disregard What You Say...
Back Up The Trunk And Pass The Buck
Here's Where I'm Stoppin' Today
Got Swag All On Me, Homie
Can't Wipe It Away We Too Ill, Ill
That's How We Got Arenas, Dumps, ...
And Stadiums Feel
How You Feel?
[Verse 3: B.O.B]
And I'm Still Here With A Black ...
Whip From The Strange Clouds
And I'm Still Here With The Same ...
Team, Nigga Stay Down
Still Here For The East Side
Ain't A Thing Change But The Bank Account
Hands High When I Come 'Round
Cause I'm Killin This Shit Nigga, Hands Down
And I Go Hard, My Passport's Like A Postcard
Give A Fuck If I'm Solo,...
I'll Go Toe-To-Toe With Your Whole Squad
With The Soul Of A Soldier
But Even Still I Don't Want No Parts
And No Niggas With No Hearts
You Cocksuckers Need Yo Guards
I'm Throwed Off For The Most Part
A Young Dog With An Old Bark
Flow Dumb, But I'm So Smart
I Compose Art, Call Me Mozart
My Nightlife's Like A Soap Opera
With Two Chicks Like I'm Noah's Ark
They Got Nice Dresses With No...
Bras With Good Bodies Like "Oh God!"
From A Poor Child To On Top Like A Mohawk
But I Always New I'd Go Far
Like A Gas Truck With No Bar
So No Applause, Hold The Applause
Just Put Your Hand Up If You Know The Song


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U.S. National Anthem: The Star Spangled Banner
"The Star Spangled Banner", composed by Francis Scott Key in 1814, was ordered played at military and naval occasions by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, but was not designated the national anthem by an Act of Congress until 1931.
The National Anthem consists of four verses. On almost every occasion only the first verse is sung.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out of of their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave'
From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


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Posted by Editoress on 05/25/11
Over 500 cyclists from every region of Canada are expected to partake at the 2011 Immunity-FX Canadian Road Championships, a two-week cycling event held from June 23rd to July 3rd, primarily in the city of Burlington, Ontario, with events will also be held in the Georgetown and Belfountain area.
The 2011 Immunity-FX Canadian Road Championships is the top domestic road cycling race in Canada, and the best of the best will give it their all to win the prestigious Red and White Jersey, awarded to the National Champion.
In addition to the regular disciplines of Road Race and Time Trials, the very popular Criterium race has been brought back to the elite weekend and will be held on Sunday, June 26th.
"We are thrilled to have finalized the major details of the project. The event in Burlington will certainly be a great one for everyone, with fun and challenging courses for all the events," said Mathieu Boucher, Director of development at the Canadian Cycling Association. "Back by popular demand from the cycling community is the exciting criterium race, which has been scheduled in the Elite weekend."
"We are grateful for the support we received from all levels of government, especially from the City of Burlington and all its services. Without their support and involvement, we would not be able to successfully host these championships," said Craig Fagan, race organizer for the 2011 Immunity-FX Canadian Road Championships. "I also want to acknowledge the support and event management expertise we received from the Canadian Cycling Association."
"We invite everyone from the greater Toronto area to come and celebrate cycling, and see the best Canadian cyclists in action. It's rare that we get to see the best of the best that this country has to offer in one race, and to be able to cheer on our Olympians," added Will Routley, the reigning National Champion and a rider for Team SpiderTech powered by C10.
The early registration fee, per racer, is $50 for the time trial, $60 for the road race and $50 for the criterium. The regular registration fee, after the early registration deadline, is an additional $20 per race, per cyclist. Early-registration is in effect until June 17th. Registration for the event is now open at: www.ontariocycling.org.
The Technical Guide can be found HERE
The time trial race will kick things off on Thursday, June 23rd, with the start and finish in the town of Belfountain, north of Mississauga. The Elite women will race 21.67 kilometres (one lap) and the Elite men 43 kilometres (two laps).
The road races will be on the challenging roads of Burlington and area. The women's race is slated for the evening of Friday, June 24th, which will allow for a greater participation from the community businesses and greater crowds in the primetime slots. The Men's road race will be held on Saturday, June 25th in the evening as well.
On Sunday, there will be the Elite National Challenge Criterium in Georgetown, (north of Milton). The Criterium course at the 2011 Immunity-FX Canadian Road Championships will be 1.1 kilometres in length and cyclists will ride between 28 and 45 laps, depending on their category.
The Canadian Para-Cycling Road Championships will be held the following week, along with the Junior and Master categories.
The event is organized by the Midweek Cycling Club in Burlington, Ontario, in association with the Ontario Cycling Association. Led by Craig Fagan, vice-president of the club, the group has been working relentlessly over the last 12 months to ensure a successful event.
Elite Schedule
Thursday, June 23 - Individual Time Trials
Friday, June 24 - Road Race, Women's Elite
Saturday, June 25 - Road Race, Men's Elite/U23
Sunday, June 26 - National Challenge Criterium
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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Freese is Cards' winner of Heart and Hustle Award
Freese is Cards' winner of Heart and Hustle Award
ST. LOUIS -- Third baseman David Freese has been named the winner of the Heart and Hustle Award for the Cardinals, which is handed out to a player from each of the 30 Major League clubs by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association (MLBPAA).
Thirty committees are formed by the MLBPAA, comprised of alumni players with established relationships to each team. One player from each Major League team is chosen by the committees based on the passion, desire and work ethic demonstrated both on and off the field.
"I think when you're out on the field you want to play hard and do what you can," Freese said. "You don't strive for getting these awards because that's not what it's all about. But when you get recognized, you're very appreciative."
The award will be presented to Freese by alumni Major Leaguer John Mabry, who spent eight of his 14 years in the big leagues with St. Louis and now serves as the Cardinals' assistant hitting coach.
"The way he went about it, being successful but his work ethic and being a good teammate, that's what people remember," Freese said of Mabry.
Freese was named to his first All-Star team this season after winning the National League Final Vote. The 2011 World Series MVP entered Wednesday batting .306 with 56 RBIs and was hitting .409 since June 21.
As the season draws to a close, fans, all alumni and active players will vote to select the final winner from the 30 team winners. The previous overall winners are Craig Biggio (2006, 2007), Grady Sizemore (2008), Albert Pujols (2009), Roy Halladay (2010), and Torii Hunter (2011).
The final winner will be announced Tuesday, Nov. 13, at the 13th annual Legends for Youth Dinner in New York City.


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Story highlights
French Polynesia has 118 islands and atolls to vacation on
Rangiroa has tiger and hammerhead sharks, dolphins, green turtles and eagle rays
Moorea rivals Bora Bora as a honeymoon location
Nuku Hiva has adventurous jungle hiking and horseback riding across the island
Indulgent resorts.
Beautiful everything.
Bora Bora is called paradise for a reason.
And visitors return home with the exact photos of the island's towering Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, the thatched roofs of over-water bungalows and a magenta sunset over the sparkling ocean.
Don't do it!
There's a lot more to French Polynesia.
The country is made up of 118 islands and atolls covering a stretch of ocean roughly the size of Europe.
The culture extends far beyond seashell necklaces, tiki souvenirs and Monoi oil suntans.
After flying into Tahiti's main airport, there's a network of islands reachable by plane or boat.
This is where some of the best of French Polynesia's ocean adventures, cultural exploration, and, yes, romance, begins.
More: 10 islands for every type of traveler
1. Taha'a
Part of the Society Islands, the island of Taha'a is the premier place for Polynesian exports, including perfect black pearls and vanilla, grown on lush plantations.
Chefs at top restaurants around the world specifically order Taha'a's fragrant vanilla beans.
In Taha'a, it's worth going five-star.
Le Taha'a Island Resort & Spa has restaurants and lounges built into trees, as well as 48 over-water bungalows atop a translucent lagoon.
With a knowledgeable staff, you get resort-quality service without pretense.
Le Taha'a Island Resort & Spa, Taha'a; +689 507601; from $708 for couples
2. Rangiroa
Part of the Society Islands, Rangiroa is called the "infinite lagoon."
It's one of the largest atolls in the world.
Divers around Rangiroa can spot tiger and hammerhead sharks, as well as dolphins, green turtles and eagle rays beyond the reef.
Rangiroa is the hub of French Polynesia's wine industry. Vines grow along the lagoon next to coconut groves and grapes are brought to the local winery by boat.
Raira Lagon, Avatoru, Rangiroa; +689 931230; from $165 per person
3. Fatu Hiva
The word tattoo originated in Polynesia, and the region's best artists come from Fatu Hiva.
Captain James Cook brought the Polynesian art form to the West after he and other explorers were influenced by the tattoos they saw in the Marquesas, a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia and one of the five administrative divisions in the archipelago.
You can still see local tribes with head-to-toe tattoos on Fatu Hiva.
The art form, which tells the mythology of the South Pacific islands, is experiencing a resurgence there today.
Fatu Hiva also offers gorgeous wilderness typical of the Marquesas.
Trekking through the lush but hot jungles of the islands and narrow valleys isn't for the inexperienced, but it's worth the journey.
Pension Chez Lionel serves a tasty local meal of plantains, goat meat and poe (fruit pudding).
Chez Lionel, Fatu Hiva; +689 928184; from $48 a night
More: Belize: 7 of its most stunning islands
4. Moorea
In recent years Moorea has been gaining on Bora Bora as the area's best honeymoon location.
Many argue it rivals Bora Bora for natural splendor.
It has low mountains rising above wide meadows of grass and ferns, fields growing coffee, pineapple and sugarcane, and villages encircled by gardens of bright hibiscus.
It's a 30-minute catamaran ride from Tahiti.
The Intercontinental Moorea has its own dolphin center for an up-close swimming experience, as well as singular amenities like room service by canoe and a spa flower bath experience.
Intercontinental Resort and Spa Moorea, Moorea; +689 551919; from $262
5. Rurutu
Better known as the Island of Whales, Rurutu is encircled by tall cliffs of ancient coral.
This ring attracts mating humpback whales every year from July to August.
Rurutu is worth visiting year round for the unique coral snorkeling experience, white sand beaches and incredible biking on the nearly car-free island.
Manotel, Moeral, Rurutu; +689 930225; from $66
6. Hiva Oa
The Marquesas bring an authentic Polynesian experience to the island experience, as opposed to say, a honeymoon resort so big you need a golf cart to get around.
This mysterious set of islands remains mostly untouched by modern tourism, with raw beauty that influenced Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Singer Jacques Brel and painter Paul Gauguin spent their last days on the island of Hiva Oa, famous for its untamed landscapes, as well as archaeological wonders like giant stone tiki dotting the island, in addition to a proud local culture welcoming of visitors.
The Paul Gauguin Cultural Centre pays tribute to his philosophy of "escaping to reach art," and features a replica of his own Maison du Jounir (House of Pleasure).
The Paul Gauguin Cultural Centre, Atuona, Hiva Oa; +689 927897
7. Nuku Hiva
Nuku Hiva is best suited for adventurous types who'd rather forgo the sun lounger and spend their vacation hiking through jungles or horseback riding across the island's desolate roads.
Nuku Hiva is filled with natural wonders from volcanic cliffs to thousand-foot waterfalls, with water that evaporates before it touches the ground.
The island is a key spot for archaeological sites, with Taipivai Valley housing several temples and large tiki, and the village of Hatiheu offering walking tours of petroglyphs and ruins.
Pension Koku'u, Taiohae, Nuku Hiva; +689 920774; from $57 a night for bed and breakfast
More: Go barefoot or go home: 15 best islands you've never heard of
8. Huahine
Huahine is good for exploration by canoe or glass-bottom boat.
The island's crisp waves attract surfers year round.
Huahine also features the world's longest and largest open-ocean canoe race.
The island's lush vegetation includes giant bananas and melons. Lively bike tours will take you straight through fragrant vanilla plantations.
Lakeside villas atop lily pads and palm trees at the Maitai Lapita Village provide a serene alternative to the typical ocean bungalow.
Maitai Lapita Village Huahine, Huahine; +689 688080; bungalows from $268
9. Manihi
Another large coral atoll, Manihi offers a true castaway vacation, where few tourists venture.
If you don't mind the occasional power outage and lack of imported food, you'll love this place.
The airport is a simple straw hut, with an airstrip that doubles as the site of the best stargazing in the area.
Manihi's salty waters provide the perfect environment for growing pearls. French Polynesia's first pearl farm was started here in 1968.
But pearls are best bought back to Tahiti. The pearl farm prices are surprisingly inflated.
Nanihi Paradise, Manihi; +689 933040; rates start at $121
10. Maupiti
At the far west of the Society Islands, Maupiti is a small volcanic island surrounded by a coral atoll.
With its own high peaks, Maupiti is like a mini Bora Bora, without all the glitz.
Its five islets seem created for boat rides and beach-side picnics.
Mount Teurufaaitu is the highest point on the island, with incredible views of Raiatea, Bora Bora and Taha'a.
As the oldest of the Society Islands, Maupiti is covered with archeological remains dating to 850 AD. Incredible turtle petroglyphs tell the story of the island's birth.
You'll only find bed and breakfasts here, as locals actively campaign to keep away big resorts.
Le Kuriri, Maupiti; +689 678223; from $138 per person
11. Tetiaroa
After scouting locations for his film "Mutiny on the Bounty" in 1960, Marlon Brando fell in love with the French Polynesian lifestyle, a paradise he described as "chiffon in the wind."
He bought the island of Tetiaroa, a previous vacation spot for Tahitian royalty.
After years of planning, the Brando Resort is finally opening in July 2014, to be powered by renewable resources such as coconut fuel, solar power and deep-ocean water cooling.
Focusing on private luxury, each of the 35 villas on the island offers its own plunge pool, terrace and coconut tree grove, all next to a private beach.
Guests can cruise the lagoons by paddle boarding, book a traditional beauty ritual at the Queen's Spa or learn about Tetiaroa's royal history at the Culture Lounge.
The Brando, Tetiaroa Private Island; firstname.lastname@example.com; reservations open in early 2014
More: Which Greek island should you go to?
12. Mangareva
At the center of the Gambier Islands, the islands at the end of the world, more than a thousand miles southeast of Tahiti, sits Mangareva.
A hub of Catholic missionaries in the 19th century, its village of Rikitea is home to the neo-Gothic 1848 St. Michael's Cathedral, constructed of fired limestone and inlaid with mother of pearl.
The village center is filled with eerie stone ruins from the era, including watchtowers, a triumphal arch and a former prison.
The hike up Mount Duff through high grass and pine forest offers the best panoramic views of the island. Not many tourists make it out to Mangareva – Air Tahiti operates flights only once a week, guaranteeing a quiet getaway.
The island is serviced by a handful of modest and hospitable pensions.
Pension Bianca & Benoit, Rikitea, Mangareva; +690 978376; from $95 a night per couple with breakfast
13. Fakarava
With an enormously fun name, Fakarava is known for its diverse ecosystem, marked by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve to preserve rare species.
With only about 400 people living on the island, its atolls are virtually untouched, making it great for diving.
Over-water bungalows are banned to protect the delicate coral in the area.
While other pearl farms in Tahiti are often tourist traps, Fakarava offers a genuine exploration of the pearl trade.
Motu Aito Paradise, Tuamotu, Fakarava; +689 41 29 00; from $165 per person for full board
14. Raiatea
Ancient legends are still a daily part of Raiatea, Tahiti's religious and cultural capital a thousand years ago.
This sacred island is home to Taputapuatea, French Polynesia's best-preserved historical site, full of religious artifacts and shrines. Here you can learn about how South Pacific civilization took shape.
Today, Raiatea's vast harbor serves as the starting point for private boat tours of the surrounding islands or deep-sea fishing tours.
Opoa Beach Hotel, Taputapuatea, Raiatea; +689 600510; from $265 per couple
15. Tikehau
Tikehau, an oval-shaped island covered in pink sand and surrounded by rich waters, has the best beaches in French Polynesia.
Jacques Cousteau's research group declared it the most fish-abundant atoll in Polynesia, which makes for incredible snorkeling just a few feet into the water.
There are typical over-water bungalows or, for something different, Tikehau Ninamu Resort, a one of a kind property set in a forest of bamboo containing birds of paradise. Featuring just six bungalows, each house is crafted from local materials such as shells, palm leaves and coral.
The Honeymoon suite treehouse feels like its own private paradise. And yet, it's the only place on the island with working Wi-Fi.
Ninamu, Tikehau; +689 737810; $400 a night per person, all inclusive


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Go to Weekend Guide >>
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Featuring a warm water therapy pool and locker rooms – both wheelchair accessible – plus a relaxing hot tub spa, our aquatic center is open to the entire community. The public is invited to enjoy the pool on these designated days and hours:
Monday-Friday, 7:30-9am; 11am-12pm; 3-4pm
Cost: $5 per swimmer or $25 for a weekly swim card (Kids 3 and under are FREE)
**Masks must be worn inside St. Ann Center facilities and temperatures will be taken at the front desk. Masks can be removed in the locker room before entering the pool or hot tub.**
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